The War Against Giygas
by HyperInuyasha
Summary: Giygas has taken over the Nintendo dimension, and has set his sights on other universes. Will the Smashers stop him this time, or, will he succeed again? Update (Chapter 6): Fox, Pikachu, and Meta Knight return after a few chapters (and months in real time) for some space travel and plot progression! (Sequel to Attack of Giygas)
1. Prologue: Awakening and Questions

_**Author's Note:** It's finally here. To new readers, this is a sequel to my story, 'Attack of Giygas'. **Please read that before you start reading this.** As usual, this is a fanfic, so I own nothing but my bullshit stories._

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**_- THE WAR AGAINST GIYGAS-_**

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_-**Prologue**: Awakening and Questions-_

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Meta Knight's eyes slowly opened; he was filled with a dizzying sensation. 'How long was I out?' he wondered. He rubbed his eyes; he immediately realized that his mask was gone. He frantically looked around, but he did not see it. However, he finally noticed that he was inside a warm bed, inside a dark room that was vaguely familiar to him. He kicked off the covers and stepped off the bed. His limbs felt rather stiff, 'Seriously, how long was I out?' he asked himself again.

He tried to remember what happened beforehand...

_"So... so glad you're safe..."_

He remembered now; he took a hit for Pikachu. He, Pikachu, and Fox were standing off against Giygas on top of the Empire Pork Building. He recalled that he got hit by something sharp, which was followed by intense pain before he collapsed.

"Pikachu!" Meta Knight perked up; he heard Fox's cheerfully optimistic voice outside of the room. "Pikachu, I forgot how to mail letters! This is not as easy as writing e-mails; where's the send button on the envelope?"

"Damn it, Fox." Pikachu's deadpan voice was heard as well; why were both of them here? Shouldn't they be off in their own universes? "Have you ever heard of mailboxes? Yeah. Put it in a fucking mailbox."

"Oh. Okay. ...Hey, what's the stamp for? Do you use it close the envelope?"

Silence followed. "...You know what, I'll come with you to mail that letter." The Pokémon was heard sighing. Meta Knight heard a door briefly opening before being slammed shut.

Meta Knight had a lot of questions on mind, but the number one question of course, is where the hell is he. He opened the door and quickly threw his hands over his eyes to protect him from the rays of... an ordinary light bulb. To Meta Knight though, it shined with the intensity of the sun. "Where's the light switch?" He muttered as he ran his hand on the wall; he found the switch and turned the light off, bringing back the blissful darkness.

He could see a bit better now. He looked around the hallway and curiosity overtook him; he saw pictures of Kirby hung on the wall. Why was he in Kirby's house? Then, he turned his attention to another collection of pictures, and saw that most of them were pictures of Fox and Pikachu, hanging around various locales on Pop Star.

"...Seriously, what is going on here?" He ran down the hall and into the living room; it looked like how it was the last time he was over, but there were a few notable changes. New knickknacks were strewn about the room, more pictures of Fox and Pikachu were on the walls, and the ceiling was elevated (likely to accommodate Fox's height). The knight walked into the kitchen and opened up the fridge. There was a moderate amount of food... which was suspicious, because since this is Kirby's house, it should be bursting to the brim with food. Then he realized something else; he was ridiculously famished. He took a bowl of leftover pasta and started digging in, not caring about warming it up. 'Dear god, how hungry am I?' Meta Knight thought as he ashamedly ate the cold noodles using his bare hands.

Then, the front door swung open, prompting Meta Knight to look over as Fox entered the house. The mammal looked subtly different than how he looked during their battle against Giygas (how long ago was that?); his fur was a bit darker, there was a sharper look in his eyes, and notably, he was not carrying any of his usual technological devices. Fox looked over at Meta Knight and gave a casual, friendly wave. "Hey Meta Knight!"

"..Hey...?" The knight feebly answered. Both of them stared at each other awkwardly before it all clicked in Fox's head.

"_META KNIGHT!_" Fox suddenly pounced on Meta Knight, his arms hugging around him. "Oh my god, you're actually awake! It's been a long time, just, holy crap!"

"Fox, can you-" Meta Knight tried to question him.

"Pikachu and I missed you so much and... _PIKACHU! He needs to see this!_" He dropped the knight and ran back out the front door. A few seconds later, he was running back in, dragging a reluctant Pikachu with him.

"What is it that you have to show me Fox?" Pikachu growled at him, annoyed.

"It's Meta Knight!" Fox said, pointing at Meta Knight. Pikachu looked at him; Meta Knight noticed that he was a bit more furrier and had a tuft of fur at the top of his head, resembling hair. Pikachu looked annoyed, but that expression turned to shock as he dropped his jaw.

"_HOLY SHIT!_ IT'S ACTUALLY YOU!" The Pokémon rushed over to hug him; he looked downtrodden "Meta, I'm sorry this happened to you. It was my own damn fault for blindly attacking that bastard and not thinking about the..."

"Guys, stop hugging me. I really wasn't out for that long, was I?" asked Meta Knight.

Fox sheepishly scratched his head, clearly trying to think of an excuse. "...Um... Oh, hey, check it out! We're living in Kirby's house!" He led away from the subject.

"Yeah, I noticed. Where is Kirby, anyway?"

"Er... not here. We're sort of living here alone." answered Pikachu.

"Why? How come both of you aren't in your universes?" Meta Knight inquired. Pikachu and Fox shared a glance, looking a bit heartbroken.

"We... we can't..."

"...What?"

"Meta Knight... we lost. That bastard, Giygas, won." Pikachu said bitterly; Meta Knight could not believe what he was hearing. Pikachu, with some help from Fox, filled in what happened during the time span between the fight against Giygas and now: the gateway to Subspace opened up almost immediately after Meta Knight took a poisoned needle to the face; Fox and Pikachu barely managed to escape the Empire Pork Building. Giygas, his lieutenants, and their army was already inside the gate by the time the Smashers regrouped, so it was too late to close it. Once there, their enemies used the powers of Subspace to upgrade their weaponry, and practically annihilated the Subspace Emissary army; the only one who had enough power to create things that could combat them, Crazy Hand, turned and fled as soon as Giygas, or, as he knows him, Tabuu, came on the scene. Fox and Pikachu managed to get the poison removed from Meta Knight and they and the rest of the Smashers opened up portals leading to different universes; Mario, Luigi, and the Ice Climbers went back to Mario's universe, Kirby had actually taken Captain Olimar to his universe to get more Pikmin, Ganondorf's location was unknown, Snake, Jigglypuff, Young Link, and Pit went back to the GAG (Galaxies Against Giygas) headquarters in the Wind Waker universe, Mr. Game and Watch headed back to the Kid Icarus universe, Peach took Ness to the Animal Crossing universe, Falco was sadly captured, and no one knows what happened to Master Hand afterward. They then went on to recount how Giygas visited them a few weeks after this catastrophe to offer a deal; show no more resistance against them, and they get to continue living their happy(?) lives. Of course, if they decided to not take the offer, they would have died right there. Obviously, Fox and Pikachu chose to lie down and surrender.

"I see..." muttered Meta Knight, still trying to digest all this information. "...But why come to Kirby's house?"

"Kirby's universe was a happy place! Duh!" said Fox, trying to put on a smile.

"...What do you mean by 'was'?"

Fox quickly backpedaled. "Uh, nothing. Just a grammar mistake."

That wasn't a grammar mistake.

"I see that you're still active, Hyper." responded Meta Knight; to those who forget, I break the fourth wall a hell of a lot.

Yep. Get on with the story. I'm trying to look professional here, sheesh.

While we were having that discussion, Fox had closed all the blinds and locked the door. "There's nothing wrong, Meta. Certainly nothing terrible is going on outside. Yep. Nothing terrible."

"Yeah. Hey, Meta Knight, were you eating that pasta cold?" Pikachu tried to change the subject.

"Er... yes." The mask-less warrior said, feeling embarrassed.

"Well, you need to heat it up." Pikachu scurried to pick up the plate of food and put it in the microwave. "Only dumbasses eat it cold. ...No offense."

"I made the pasta, by the way!" said Fox; this shocked Meta Knight, as Fox had admitted to him (see: The Trapped Series) that he had no idea how to cook.

"Really? Wow, it looks like you've improved. The pasta admittedly tasted good, even when cold, and... hold on, you guys are changing the subject!" Meta Knight yelled.

"No we're not. Sit down and eat your damn pasta." said Pikachu quickly. Meta Knight ignored him and walked up to Fox, who was blocking the front entrance.

"Open the door Fox."

"No."

Meta Knight sighed and diverted his gaze to an umbrella stand; there, he saw his beloved Galaxia, having been kept there for a long time. He made a quick grab for the sword and slashed at Fox; unlike the center of the dimension, the Universal Laws were applied here, and the sword simply hurt and knocked Fox back. Meta Knight quickly opened the door while he was down. He squinted his eyes as they got adjusted to the light.

The sky was tinted red, being filled with familiar red clouds. Meta Knight looked across the green landscape, and discovered that the world no longer stretched to a horizon, but rather, cut off at a cliff. Then, he stepped outside and looked directly above himself and saw a landmass floating above him; he scanned the skies and saw more landmasses behind some of the red clouds. Fox and Pikachu walked outside and stood next to him.

"...So Popstar sort of split into several pieces while you were asleep." explained Fox.

"But... why?" Meta Knight was genuinely horrified by what had happened to his homeland (if you follow the Kirby anime canon, then replace 'homeland' with 'place that he lives that gets attacked by demonbeasts all the damn time').

"You're asking a lot of questions." muttered Pikachu.

"I've been unconscious for... well, at least three weeks. I have a lot of questions to ask."

"That's fair. Okay, basically, after Giygas took over, he handed control of each universe to each of his batshit followers while he commanded them; except for King Boo, apparently, according to rumors. But who cares. Anyway, instead of giving proper control for this universe, he just told his lieutenants to share this place. They each took a planet of their own to rule; I know that those Melee assholes took over Neo Star. However, without Giygas' input, they're a bunch of dysfunctional loons and they fought over Pop Star. Then, that dumbass Porky decided to split Pop Star into pieces using a bomb. And it fucking worked."

"What!?"

"Yeah. At first, they decided to evenly split the pieces between themselves, but as time went on, they got greedy and decided to go to war with each other to get more Pop Star territory."

"Guys, look!" shouted Fox, pointing at the sky; a missile was traveling across the sky and it collided with the landmass above Kirby's house; they took cover as rocks and dirt fell down. "Darn it. I just took care of the lawn yesterday."

Meta Knight looked up into the sky, very confused. "What... but... why would they launch such a petty war over this when they work together for everything else?"

"Not all of them are fighting. Just the idiots and psychos." Which was about half of them.

"Personally, I think that those guys secretly hate each other and is battling over Pop Star as an excuse to fight each other." Fox theorized. Pikachu and Meta Knight looked at him. "...What? I'm just sharing ideas here."

"Well, sadly, we're in the territory of those Melee jerks. Luckily, Roy is the one leading this war, and that guy just wants to burn the shit out of everything; if Pichu was in charge, he would have probably nuked this house a long time ago."

"Who else is involved?" Meta Knight asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Yes. We should be getting to know our enemies."

Pikachu sighed. "Meta Knight, we're not going to fight them."

"...Really? You're just going to give up?"

"Meta, as soon as we go rogue, all of those warring idiots will destroy us."

"I know that, but-"

"Meta, it's over. Besides, you just woke up! There's no way you can fight, well, anyone." said Fox. Although Meta Knight disagreed with them over surrendering and letting Giygas and cronies stomp all over everything, he admitted that he's still rather weak; he decided that it was best to rest for now. Fox shoved the knight back into the house and went over to the fridge. "Meta, why don't you finish your pasta?"

"...Fine." Meta Knight walked over to the kitchen, took the pasta from the microwave, then plopped on the couch in the living room. He watched the TV, which was showing a documentary about the Orange Ocean, which was standard fare for television programming. Then, as soon as it cut to the commercials, things quickly turned batshit.

Many posters were shown plastered on a wall on screen, saying things like '_Burn our enemies', 'Warm yourselves with war', 'Fire good, Porky bad', 'Burn the witch!_' and _'Burn your dread'._ Then, Roy stepped into the shot. His hair was shorter than it used to be, his armor was recently shined and polished, and he wore a cape that looked like moving flames, radiating shining light. "Hey, what's up? I'm Roy, future ruler of Pop Star and current leader of Neo Star. You guys are all probably thinking, 'Roy, why do you hate that Porky kid so much?' Well, it's certainly not because he's a twerpy asshole, but it's because he was the one that split your world into pieces in the first place. I hate him, and you guys all probably hate him. So, the clear answer is to raze the shit out of his territory. We'll also burn the shit out of everyone else while we're at it. So, join the definitely not petty war effort toda-"

Suddenly, Roy's commercial cut to a view of Porky. The boy was a little taller and his hair now dragged over his nose; he wore his cool suit from Earthbound, which now had a tie with an image of Giygas on it. Lastly, he looked a bit slimmer, as if he had actually exercised. "Don't listen to that loser! Besides, none of you want to piss me off, do you? I am very close to Lord Giygas, and if you upset me, I'll ask him to wreck your shit! So, don't fight against me; in fact, why don't you turn on Roy and hand the territory over to me, okay?"

Roy's commercial switched back on. "Real mature, fatass! Besides, if you could ask Giygas to do that, why haven't you done it before?"

Switch. "Because... shut up!"

"I will burn everything you love to the ground!"

Then, the screen flashed to someone else; Link was on screen. There were bloodstains on his clothes, which was barely covered up by an emerald colored chestplate. He did not wear his hat, which was perhaps the most shocking thing of all. "They're both losers, and I would gladly cut their heads off if Giygas actually approved of it, so I'll just settle on taking their crap." Clearly, there was definitely some in-fighting in Giygas's inner circle; Meta Knight was curious if the demon himself would show up on the screen. "Citizens of Pop Star, join me, and I will not cut you down when I go on my bloody crusade!"

The TV switched to the other swordsman. "Hey! Don't take my future citizens! I'll build a wooden effigy of you and burn it to ashes!"

Then came Porky. "You guys are both losers, and I'll be taking you down!"

And so the bickering continued to happen for the rest of the commercial airtime. "Man, the trash talking is the best part!" Fox said, eating a bowl of leftover pasta; Meta Knight finally noticed that Fox and Pikachu were sitting next to him on the couch.

"Has... has it been like this?" asked Meta Knight, referring to the dumb, petty war over the apparently scattered pieces of the planet.

"Yeah. It's been like this since Porky pulled a Legend of the Seven Stars and split Pop Star, which was like, two months after Giygas talked to us." answered Pikachu. "You just get used to it."

"Hold on... how long was I out?"

Fox and Pikachu shared awkward, worried looks. Pikachu bumped Fox on the arm, wanting him to answer that. "Er... it was definitely more than one day."

"Fox."

"Okay, um, it was one, three... carry the four... um ...eighteen months. You were out for eighteen months." announced Fox.

Meta Knight choked on his pasta and fainted.

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**To be continued...**

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_**Author's Note:** I am glad to have finally started this fan-fic! I'm not sure about the update schedule for this, considering that I'm working on three other fan-fics (The Normals, The Trapped Series, and Diary of a Psychopath), and with semester exams coming up, I'll be busy studying and doing essays, since teachers love to dumb essays around this time. I'll try to at least write an update every two weeks. I hope you guys liked this chapter, and that you'll stick around for the ride. Reviews would be appreciated, whether it be compliments, suggestions, constructive criticism, and death threats. Actually, scratch that last one._


	2. Chapter 1: Things Going to Shit

_I am here to bring another chapter! I have not yet gotten any commissions; then again, I haven't gotten around to starting that Amazon Payments account because I'm a lazy shit. Anyway, has anyone else here played OFF? Well, you should go download it! The second translation's recently released, so it's as good a time as any to start playing it!_

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_**Chapter 1:** Things Going to Shit_

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Pikachu decided to take a walk outside while Fox got Meta Knight into bed; hopefully, he would be awake within hours instead of months. He looked up at the red sky and shook his head. A red sky was now practically an ordinary sight, with the only other occurring color being gray. "Sorry you had to wake up to this mess, Meta Knight." The Pokémon muttered to himself as he walked down toward a small village. "At least you weren't there when everything went to shit."

About a year ago, Giygas finally decided to make his move against the Kirby universe. Giygas and his forces started by conquering the planets surrounding Pop Star; Ripple Star had mysteriously disappeared during all of this commotion. As each world succumbed to the red clouded darkness, the residents of Pop Star got more and more agitated and terrified, Pikachu and Fox included.

On the day Pop Star had split, Pikachu was walking through town, doing some grocery shopping. Several people were openly gossiping in the street. "Have you heard about Rock Star? Some guy went mad there and drowned several people in the sand. Poor people couldn't get out and lost all their lives." whispered a Waddle Dee.

"Yeah, I heard that the red cloud stuff that's been appearing everywhere is the cause." said a Waddle Doo.

"Everyone that breathes that stuff eventually goes completely loco!" yelled a Poppy.

"Pfft, that's just a dumb rumor." said a Starman.

"Nah, it's true." Pikachu interjected while walking past them; the poor Poppy went into a frenzy.

"See? I told you! We're going to go crazy and drown each other in sand! _Sand!_" The clownish enemy screamed.

"Well... it's not as if the red stuff will show up here... right?" the Waddle Dee said, trying to be of help. Pikachu laughed at their panic as he went into the grocery store. After gathering everything he needed, he proceeded to checkout. However, that's when he heard a great clamor outside.

"Oh my gosh, it's a flying sword!"

"Just like in Super Mario RPG!"

"Oh right, that game. ...Hey, what ever happened to Geno?"

"Uh, sir, that would be 34.95..." Pikachu ignored the cashier and ran out (with the groceries, might I add), looking up into the sky along with the rest of the panicked public; there was indeed a giant sword falling down from the sky, like some twisted tribute to Super Mario RPG. However, unlike the sword Exor, there was a giant pig mask where Exor's face should be. It was clear what was happening; Giygas is finally invading.

He pushed the grocery cart down the sidewalk, heading back to Kirby's house (ignoring the yells of the grocery store's employees). Fox was already in the house, watching tv when Pikachu ran in. "F..Fox..." Pikachu was trying to catch his breath.

"What? Did something happe- woah, did you steal those groceries?" Fox said, noticing that none of the grocery items were in bags.

"Fox, there's something more important going on than groceri-"

"Pikachu, you may not be nice most of the time, but wow, stealing groceries? That's rude." said Fox as he brought the groceries to the kitchen and stuffed the evidence into the fridge.

"Fox-"

"Oh hey, you also stole some chicken! That'll be great for dinne-"

"DAMN IT FOX, WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME!" Pikachu screamed; Fox dropped the stuff in his hands in response to this. "Sorry for scaring you, but there's something way more important than shitty groceries!"

"What could be worse than stealing chicken and deciding whether to return it or not?"

"Giygas is finally attacking."

There was a stark silence in the room. "...Oh..." Fox silently walked backwards out of the kitchen and into a different room; he returned, holding wooden boards and a hammer in his hands. "Welp, let's get to barricading the house!"

Pikachu was seriously considering this, but then, a tremor shook the ground, making them fall off their feet. The Pokémon made a grab for the tv remote and changed the channel to the news.

The newscaster was a Scarfy, who had a monstrous appearance on due to being in a high tension state. "...JUST IN, THE SWORD SPOTTED AROUND BUTTER BUILDING IS BURROWING INTO THE GROUND. EARTHQUAKES ARE OCCURRING AROUND THE AREA! STAY INDOORS UNTIL THE PROBLEM IS RESOLV-" The picture showing live coverage of the sword going into the ground in the corner swiftly changed; a fiery explosion filled the picture right before the recording went off. Another earthquake occurred, this time, causing the furniture inside the house to fall along with its occupants. "THE EARTHQUAKES HAVE INCREASED! IT... WHAT? REALLY? HOLY SHIT. ...THIS JUST IN, THE VERY GROUND IS SPLITTING AND BLOWING AWAY FROM EACH OTHER; WE BELIEVE THAT THE SWORD EXPLODED AND SPLIT POP STAR INTO PIECES. ...WHAT."

"What!" screamed both Pikachu and Fox, bouncing around the room as an earthquake continued to shake the home. The tremors soon stopped a few minutes later, allowing the two Smashers to get their footing; they immediately ran outside to check out the damage.

The news report was right; landmasses were floating away from each other, the bottoms of them being visibly on fire. Video game logic was practically the only thing that kept everything from outright exploding and killing everyone. Fox and Pikachu shared a glance before heading down to the town.

The town was split in half now, with one half being on the same landmass as Kirby's house and the other half stuck on a piece of land flying on a higher altitude. Buildings were on fire and people were panicking and also on fire. Then...

"Hey! You! Rat thing!" yelled a Bronto Burt, wearing the uniform of the the grocery store Pikachu went to earlier. "You did not pay for your food!"

"...The planet just exploded, and the only thing you're screaming about is _the fact that I didn't fucking pay?_"responded Pikachu.

"Yeah! Look man, I take my job seriously! You're going to pay - _or else!_" Pikachu stared at the Bronto Burt for a few seconds before scurrying off, forcing the flying enemy to chase after him. With Fox all alone, the guy walked through the streets, which was full of hysteria and chaos.

Finally, he got to the edge of the landmass; he looked down, curious about what was down there. "Woah..." There was a giant ball of flames sitting where the planet's core should be... and red mist was seeping out of the orb. ...And the mist was starting to float upward. Fox immediately bolted back home before something terrible happened; when he got home, he discovered that the door was locked. "Pikachu! Let me in! Before it gets me!"

The front door quickly opened and Pikachu grabbed Fox inside. "Okay, glad you're here. Look, we need to do that barricade idea of yours; we need to protect ourselves from those Giygas bastards and the grocery market."

"...Okey dokey!" Fox picked the boards he gathered earlier back up and started setting and nailing them to the door. "..You are going to pay those guys back, right?"

Pikachu gave him an annoyed look. "Damn it, what's wrong with you people? Since when was grocery shopping way more than the destruction of our way of life?"

"...I'm just saying, that's all." muttered Fox. The two got to work, and within minutes, the door and windows were successfully boarded up. Pikachu went to check on Meta Knight, who remarkably managed to stay put in the bed during the earthquake. He went back to the living room, where he saw Fox watching the tv intensely.

"...THE MAGMA INSIDES OF THE PLANET HAVE CONDENSED INTO A SUN LIKE OBJECT, AND RED MIST IS COMING OUT AND GOING INTO THE SKY. ONCE AGAIN, STAY INDOORS, BECAUSE THE AUTHORITIES ARE SURE THAT THINGS WILL GET WEIRDER FROM HER-"

Suddenly, the image on the screen switched to show a pig snout: the symbol of the Pig Mask Army. It was set upon a red and black background, with words bordering around the pig snout saying '**HAIL GIYGAS'**.

"...Soooo, I'm going to go cook the chicken, alright?" Fox said awkwardly. Pikachu nodded, thinking that it would be a nice pick me up. The mammal set the chicken into the oven after preparing it and got back to watching tv; to his disappointment, he discovered that every channel was displaying the Pig Mask Army message. Fox curiously sniffed the air. "...Do you smell something burning?"

"...Hold on, you just put the chicken in, so..." Pikachu slowly turned his head toward the front door; the wooden boards blocking it were on fire. "Crap, not again..." They scrambled to put out the flames, leaving behind smoking, darkened wood.

The perpetrator that had set the front door on fire took advantage of the weakened materials and kicked the door down; Roy walked into the house, the flaming mecha that he created at the center of the dimension behind him. Back then, his hair was still longish, and he didn't strut around with fancy armor; he was wearing the sweet as hell cape, though. "Hey, what's up?"

"Get out of our house." said Pikachu plainly.

"Technically, this is Kirby's house. I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I set his house on fire a little."

"I think he would mind." said Fox.

"Pfft, says you. I'm just here to remind you of the terms Giygas set; if you raise a finger against us..." The swordsman made a manic smile and took out a lighter. "I'm going to burn this place to the ground!"

"We know. Just get out already." growled Pikachu.

"Hmmm... naw." Roy walked into the house, went down the hallway, and peered into Meta Knight's room. "Meta Knight's still in a coma, huh? That's good." He sniffed the air. "...Is that roast chicken?"

"Yeah, I'm making it." answered Fox.

"...Smells great! The aroma of great flames burning a spiced up chicken to perfection... love it. Can you guys give me a piece of it?"

"Sure!" said Fox, a bit flattered by Roy's praises.

"No. Just leave already." said Pikachu.

"...Hold on! We own this planet now! I can take your food anyway, so _ha!_" Roy laughed, pointing his finger in Pikachu's face. The Pokémon was forced to watch Roy sitting at their table, having a slice of roast chicken, all while complimenting Fox's fine roasting techniques. As soon as he was done, Roy stretched and started to walk back outside to his mech. "I've gotta go; there's still a lot of things to take over and burn to ashes! Oh, there will be ashes..." The swordsman left, all while rambling about burning things.

Fox and Pikachu then spent the rest of the day watching Giygas's forces take over everything; the demon himself hasn't made an appearance that day, or up to now, for that matter. At first, they hated the new regime, and the feuding that started a month later. Soon however, they grew used to it, accepting it as everyday routine. They did not raise any objection to the regime, and, true to their word, no one came after them. Somehow, they weren't affected by the Giygas gas that had filled the air, minus the occasional sickness; perhaps they were still holding on to some hope...

Pikachu walked through the village; it was silent, with many of the villagers in their own homes or somewhere else. Some homes were burned down, and some were plastered with the posters seen in Roy's war ad; speaking of war, the Pokémon heard a faint explosion in the distance. It wasn't his problem anymore, though.

Pikachu stepped on a pad; it was a teleporter, which people used to get around the landmasses, if they couldn't fly. He teleported to the other part of town, which was where the grocery store was relocated to during the past few months. Curiously, Pikachu saw the people he saw gossiping on the day Pop Star split up. However, something was definitely different.

"Have you heard that an entire landmass was set ablaze?" whispered Waddle Dee.

"Yeah! Everyone on Roy's side is awesome!" exclaimed a Waddle Doo. He took a deep breath of air (don't ask me how). "The air today feels nice, doesn't it?"

"Yep, breathing in this gas all the time is completely healthy! Yup! Hahaha!" laughed a Poppy.

"..." The Starman suddenly threw up and collapsed; this did not deter the others, who carried on with their conversation. Pikachu went into the grocery store, picked up everything he needed (with Meta Knight awake now, they needed more solid food), paid, then left. He took the teleporter back home and discovered a package at the doorstep.

Fox opened the door and opened his mouth in exclamation upon seeing the package. "Wow, that was quick!" After picking it up, he noticed that Pikachu was in front of him. "...Uhh, you don't see this." He immediately ran back into the house.

"Fox, what's in the box?" Pikachu asked with mild frustration.

"Oh, it's definitely not for something I've been working on for the past few months behind your back." said Fox.

"What."

"...It's... an alamo. You know, for looking up maps and stuff." Fox was walking backwards toward the back door, clutching the box in his arms.

"It's almanac, and that's definitely not one."

"Er... look, it's... umm, Bigfoot!" Fox then ran out of the back door, screaming like an incoherent loon. "Keep looking at Bigfoot, I'm definitely not running away!" Okay, those words were technically coherent.

Pikachu didn't bother chasing after him. Instead, he went to go check on Meta Knight; he discovered that the sheets were tossed to the floor and that the knight was gone. Before the rat destroyed something out of frustration at his companions, he found a note taped to the door.

_'Went for a walk in town. I want to see what has happened.'_

"...Damn it, what the hell are the others doing?" muttered Pikachu.

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I bet you're wondering what Fox is doing and what's in the box. Well, guess what? You don't get to check it out - yet! Instead, let's go to Meta Knight; the knight was walking through the quiet village, looking at all the changes mournfully. He had not yet found his mask, so he covered his mouth with his cape, to avoid breathing in the polluted air.

"L-Lord Meta Knight? Is that you?" A voice said from an alleyway.

"Who's there?" Meta Knight said, brandishing Galaxia, illuminating the alleyway in its glow; inside the alleyway was a Blade Knight.

"I-It's me! I'm a Blade Knight that used to work under you!" The Blade Knight proclaimed. "Blimey, is t-that really you sir?"

"Yes." Meta Knight withdrew his sword, feeling that he was safe.

The Blade Knight started laughing with joy. "Wow! We've all heard from your mates that you were... hold on, the others need to hear about this!" He retreated further into the alley. "Oi, guys, it's Meta Knight!"

"What? Really?" A girlish voice answered him.

"Yeah, it's really amazin- OW!"

"Sorry, but you could have woken up all the Giygas supporters in the village with your yelling."

"...You didn't have to slap me that hard..."

Then, someone came out of the alleyway; it was a small girl with pink hair and wings wearing a red dress. "Hello, my name is Ribbon. Kirby's told me a lot about you during my adventure with him!"

Meta Knight only faintly remembered the events of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards; he was regrettably on vacation during this time. "...Oh yes, you're that girl that traveled with Kirby, Dedede, Bandanna Dee (since most of the Kirby fandom agreed it was him), and Adeline. ...Why are you in an alleyway?"

"Oh, well, you see..." Ribbon snapped her fingers, prompting a lot of armored people to appear behind her; he widened his eyes, realizing that most of them were his former warriors. "...I'm the leader of a resistance here. And obviously, you can't hold a resistance in a conference hall, now can you?"

Meanwhile, someone nearby was watching the scene take fold; a TAC hid in the shadows. He watched Ribbon bring Meta Knight into the shadows; it was too risky to go after them, but he got the information he needed...

* * *

A secret base sat inside the magma part of Neo Star, outfitted with air rides and weapons. In the security room, the most important part of the faction's base of operations, Roy was dancing around; he was clearly reveling in the heat and lava around him.

"Don't you all love the fire?" Roy giggled to his underlings, who were rolling his eyes at him and continuing to do their jobs of maintaining the pointless feud between their boss, Porky, and Link.

"Sir, there's a telephone call for you." informed an Acchi. Roy groaned and went over to pick up the call.

"What do you want? It better be important; you're interrupting my dance tribute to the fire gods!" Roy yelled into the phone.

"We don't have fire gods, sir." said a Flamer.

"Shut up! Now, what do you have to tell me? ...Uh-huh... oh..." Roy set the phone down, grinning. "Well, now that's interesting."

* * *

Fox left his hiding place to go get a drink, after spending a bit of time working on his secret project; as he accidentally blurted out, he's been working on it for months.

"If Meta Knight thinks that me cooking is amazing, this will blow his mind." Fox mused. Then he remembered, "Oh my gosh, I forgot to lock the doors!" He immediately ran back to his hiding place to make sure the place was locked down; it wasn't time yet to unveil his project.

* * *

Mewtwo floated down the shimmering halls of the grand palace at the center of the dimension. The place has remained largely the same, although, some of the rooms were now dedicated to... different purposes; the cat Pokémon himself did not experience any changes in the past months (perhaps due to not being born naturally). He had just received an important call from his subordinate, Roy. As Giygas' second-in-command (due to being the most competent and sane of his minions), this must be reported immediately. Mewtwo floated down the halls of the palace, ignoring the salutes of the people he passed as he headed to the palace's new throne room.

Upon throwing open the grand colorful doors, a large amount of red smoke spilled out; due to Mewtwo's malevolent nature, he was unaffected by it. The throne room was filled with red smoke, with disfigured faces occasionally forming within it. In the middle of the smoke, Mewtwo could see an outline of a throne, with a figure similar to his sitting on it. "Ah yes, Mewtwo... what do you have to report? Any progress on searching for that wretche-"

"No." Mewtwo interrupted the deep, malevolent sounding voice; Mewtwo is one of the few people that could interrupt Giygas and live to tell the tale. "Roy has informed that Meta Knight's out of his coma."

The entity remained quiet. He knew Meta Knight as the de facto leader of the trio consisting of him, Pikachu, and Fox; they were a major threat to him a year and a half before. Even though Giygas had ultimately won in the end, they still managed to be a major thorn in his side. Then, Giygas' Giegue avatar strode out of the smoke to talk with Mewtwo face to face; if he talked to someone face to face, then it was definitely an important matter. "Tell Roy to keep an eye on him, Fox, and Pikachu; if they step out of line..."

"Understood." Mewtwo nodded. He turned around and left, leaving Giygas all alone in his foggy throne room.

"I've set my sight on greater horizons... and I refuse to let those three get in my way again..." Giygas said to himself.

* * *

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Well, now we've seen Giygas and Ribbon; things will be getting exciting. Has anyone used fanfiction's built in spell checker? For some reason, it keeps thinking that 'knight' is a misspelled word, which is dumb; and weird, considering that it gives the suggestion to put a mark on 'Pokemon'. Seriously, how can it recognize 'Pokemon' but not 'knight'? Anyway, I haven't received any commissions yet; then again, I haven't gotten around to starting that Amazon Payments account yet since I'm a lazy shit, so it hardly matters._

_Oh! Now that I've started this story, do you know what that means? End of chapter questions! Ahem... what happened to Ripple Star, and why is Ribbon on Pop Star? What is Fox working on? Are there fire gods? Will I ever get a commission? What is Giygas planning to do (okay, technically, you already know if you've read the last chapter)? Will Pikachu live a peaceful life without his companions risking them getting into trouble? Find out, in the next exciting chapter of The War Against Giygas!_


	3. Chapter 2: Uncooperative Funtimes

_**Author's Note:** And so, things continue to happen. ...What a boring note._

* * *

_**Chapter 2:** Uncooperative Funtimes_

* * *

"Have you seen a blue guy carrying around a sword?" Pikachu asked. For the last ten minutes, he's been running around both village halves, in search of Meta Knight (whom, if you somehow forgot, skipped out on everyone). Unfortunately, he was having varying results, none of which positive: some has seen Meta Knight but don't know where he is, some didn't, and the rest were too out of it to care.

"No, sorry..." a Waddle Dee coughed on the air as he went back to his business. Pikachu let out a scream of complete frustration; stupid Fox and Meta Knight, skipping out on him and probably breaking laws and shit. He swore that he would start stabbing everyone around him. Pikachu paused to get a grip back on sanity. He was honestly not sure why the evil polluted air hadn't driven him batshit yet. Ignoring his frustrations, he asked another passing person, a young Waddle Doo, about Meta Knight.

"Look, have you seen a short guy carrying a sword around here?" he asked again.

"Nope, I... big brother?" Suddenly, the Waddle Doo jumped on him. "Big bro! I knew you'd come home!"

""What the hell? We're not even the same species!" Pikachu shouted; the Waddle Doo took a good look at him and then decided to roll off; it looked like tears were coming to his one big eye.

"Sorry... this gas stuff keeps making me hallucinate... I thought you were my big brother..." the Waddle Doo said.

Pikachu's interests and pity was piqued. "...What happened to your brother?"

"It happened the day everything exploded and that weird gas appeared... he went off into the smoke and was never seen again..." the young Waddle Doo explained. "Maybe he joined Roy's army... I-I don't know..."

Pikachu looked at him solemnly. "I'm sure you'll find your brother, kid."

"Yeah... hey, if you ever see him, can you tell him that his brother, Lee, misses him?"

Pikachu agreed, even though he's never associated with Lee and his brother, nor did he know what his brother looked like. "Sure... if you see the guy I'm looking for though, can you tell him that I'll kick his ass if he doesn't come home?"

"The 'a' word is a mean word, but okay." the Waddle Doo set out again, presumably to run into someone else and mistake that sap for his brother, no matter what species the guy actually is. Pikachu usually never did this heroic kind of stuff anymore; most of the heroic stuff available on Pop Star would probably get him executed by Giygas' forces, so he usually sat back and watched other people suffer. However, he couldn't just ignore the kid. Feeling a bit happier with himself, Pikachu started walking back down the street, looking for someone else to ask about Meta Knight.

"Oh hey Pikachu!" Fox greeted as he ran past. Pikachu gave him a friendly wave and a smile before it clicked in his head.

"Fox? Where do you think you're going?" The rat Pokémon started to run after Fox, who was determined to keep whatever he was doing a secret and ran faster; Pikachu decided to give up the chase when Fox stepped onto the teleporter to the other part of town and disappeared. "Damn it. What's with everybody today?"

Pikachu continued his efforts of asking around, but after a few more minutes of getting negative responses, he decided that the whole thing was fruitless, and that Meta Knight was god knows where. He bitterly started to trek back to the house; on the way there, he saw no sign of Fox, which only added to the frustration. He opened the front door and froze when he saw who was sitting on his couch. "Oh hell no, not again."

"Hey." Roy greeted him. Pikachu started to discharge electricity before adding, "Before you attack your leader, I would like to mention that this is a hologram. If you want to set fire to your own couch though, be my guest." He made a smug smile that seriously tempted Pikachu to risk damaging the furniture.

He regained his composure. "What do you want now, asshole?"

"It's rude to call your leader that. I might have to burn down your front lawn, for that."

"This isn't even my house anyway."

"Then you wouldn't mind if I set this place on fire a little, right?"

Pikachu squinted at him angrily. "Are we seriously starting this again?"

"Fine. Killjoy." Roy sighed. "Look, word on the street is that Meta Knight bumped into a local resistance." Pikachu stayed silent. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you or Fox, but if you don't stop that knight from doing whatever the hell he's doing, he's dead."

Wow, it's only been about a day and Meta Knight's already stirring up trouble. "But I don't even know where Meta Knight is!"

"Too bad." Roy smiled. "I guess your friend is going to fry." And with that little line, the hologram of Roy was gone, leaving a shocked Pikachu behind.

* * *

Meta Knight followed Ribbon and the Axe Knight into an old building, which seemed to have been scorched from the inside out; he really didn't want to question it. The Axe Knight walked over to a pile of rubble and lifted up a plank; underneath the plank was a ladder leading downward. "You first, boss and Lord Meta Knight."

Ribbon gestured at the ladder; Meta Knight went down first, followed by Ribbon, then by the Axe Knight, who closed the plank over the ladder before going down with them. They climbed for what seemed to be an eternity before they reached the ground. At the bottom of the shaft was a simple door. The moment Meta Knight opened the door, light flooded into the shaft as various Kirby universe creatures came into sight.

"They're back!"

"Wait - that's Meta Knight!"

"His friends were lying! He's not in a coma!"

"He obviously got out of it, you imbecile!"

"Woah, look at his face!"

"Wow, what a cutie."

"Now's not the time to be fangirling."

"You have to admit though, he looks pretty cute."

The initial shock and awe quickly turned into a discussion on how cute Meta Knight looked, which greatly embarrassed him. "Here, take my spare mask." The Axe Knight offered. Meta Knight quickly put the mask on, to save himself from the humiliation; he felt really weird with it on, and it reminded him to go look for his normal mask later.

The place was filled with various types of people handling weapons, working on computers, or was oogling Meta Knight. Ribbon dismissed the Axe Knight and led Meta Knight into a meeting room; the only occupants in the room were a Sir Kibble and a Sword Knight. As with everyone else, they were shocked by Meta Knight's appearance.

"Is that really Meta Knight?" the Sir Kibble whispered.

"I believe so. Wrong mask though." the Sword Knight commented.

"Meta Knight, this is Bruce and Lewis, my two helpers." Ribbon said, pointing to the Sir Kibble and Sword Knight respectively.

"Nice to meet you. Ribbon, quick question; why exactly am I here?" Meta Knight asked.

"Well, you are interested in helping Pop Star, right?" Ribbon countered.

"Not like your coward friends." Lewis said. Ribbon smacked him in the face for that comment.

"Rude." the fairy turned back to Meta Knight. "So, what do you have to say?"

Meta Knight pondered on this; he was duty-bound to Pop Star, but he didn't want to cause any trouble with Fox and Pikachu. Those two are his friends after all, and getting into some rebellion shit would likely get them targeted. However, they would probably be proud if he went to help the greater good (although they'd be a bit miffed as well)... and to Meta Knight, potentially helping millions to billions of people was a better choice. "Yes. I'm interested in helping Pop Star."

Ribbon nodded. "Good! You're just like Kirby, except way more mature." She paused. "...What species are you supposed to be anyway? You look like Kirby without the mask."

"Don't even start on that topic."

"Alright then. Bruce?" The Sir Kibble nodded and went to the front of the room, pulling down a screen from the ceiling. He then turned on the projector, showing an image of Ripple Star. "This is my planet, Ripple Star. When those Giygas people shown up, my planet was the only one that avoided getting invaded."

"How?"

She smiled and switched the picture to a giant crystal. "This is a giant crystal; a long time ago, it was broken up and I traveled across the universe with Kirby and friends to get its shards!"

"Thank you for this information, but, well, how is this relevant?" Meta Knight questioned.

"Shush, I'm almost at the good part! Okay, so after we got all the crystal shards on a planet and beat its boss, we used its crystal shard to create a portal. So, when the invasions started happening, my queen used the crystal's portal power..." She paused for dramatic flair. "...to teleport the whole planet somewhere else! Ripple Star isn't even in the same dimension anymore!"

"Interesting... Is it in the same place as Halcandra?"

"Nope. When Ripple Star disappeared in this ball of light and the light went away, we saw that we were in a place made of yarn!"

"You mean..."

"Yup, we teleported Ripple Star to Patch Land!"

* * *

Pikachu was scurrying through town yet again to find Meta Knight, this time with more worry and anxiousness. He did not bother asking around, knowing that no one would offer a good answer. Instead, he looked down every alleyway and in every nook and cranny, searching for a place a resistance could be hiding. "Meta Knight, where are you?" He scanned around again and saw someone tall poking out from above the usual Dream Land citizenry. "Fox!"

"Oh! There you are Pikachu! Remember that thing that I said I had no idea you were talking about? Well guess what, I'm finally finished wit-" Fox blabbered over the apathetic civilians.

"Fox, I'm not worried about your dumb whatever! Look, Meta Knight got involved with this rebellion thing, and if we don't stop him from doing something stupid, then he's going to die!" Pikachu exclaimed.

Fox immediately dropped the issue. "Meta Knight? Wow, he's only been awake for a day and he's already causing trouble."

"I know. Which is why it pisses me off so much." Pikachu growled. "Quick, we need to find him!"

"Um, do we have something that's important to Meta Knight, so that we could like, attract him like a wood to a beaver?" Fox suggested.

"That's a weird metaphor, but I see what you're getting at... what does Meta Knight like, though?"

"Wait... I've got an idea..." Fox immediately turned tail and started sprinting for home, with Pikachu following after him.

* * *

"...so the crystal teleported the whole planet to the Patch Land realm. Okay, I can definitely see that happening." Meta Knight said. He was not too knowledgeable in the field of Kirby's Epic Yarn, considering that he was either brainwashed or doing something else during its span.

"When we met up with Prince Fluff, he agreed to let Ripple Star hang around his universe. When we told him about Pop Star and how it was broken up, he proposed an idea-" Ribbon elaborated.

"He offered to give her a strand of magic yarn to connect Pop Star back together!" Lewis finished. Ribbon slapped the knight yet again.

"Lewis, it's rude to steal other people's lines while they're still talking! So, Prince Fluff offered to donate one of the magic yarn strands to us, but he said that the sock portal between Dream Land and Patch Land had to be in a safe place first, so he and my queen sent me through the portal to see what's happening." Ribbon clicked and the picture changed; Link was on the screen. "When I came out of the sock, I found that I was in this crazy guy's bedroom! He thought having the sock would be neat, so he kept it in his bedroom... which is weird. So he woke up, screamed at me, and tried to murder me; not bad for being out for only a minute. So I managed to escape that psycho and then the next part came into play. Bruce, would you like to explain?"

"Certainly, miss."

"How come he gets to explain stuff and I don't?" Lewis asked.

"Because you're rude." Bruce responded. "Anyway, Miss Ribbon was found by some of your knights and they rallied around her; honestly, your knights could have fought back against the Giygas threat themselves, but there was so much confusion after Pop Star split up that they were easily overwhelmed. Anyway, Ribbon decided to start up a rebellion, to fight against these wicked people and retrieve the magic sock; she started a resistance cell on many landmass pieces, this one included. She did so because if someone were to get the magic sock and bring it to a safe location, the magic yarn would start sewing Pop Star back up, and in the confusion, the warriors all over the reformed Pop Star can rally attack the warring leaders; it's a nice bit of irony, isn't it?"

Meta Knight nodded, believing this to be a good plan. "I see... Well, what do you want me to do?"

"Alright, since no one would think you're Meta Knight, especially with that mask on, you'll be sneaking into Roy's army." Ribbon continued the slideshow, showing Roy's war propaganda clip Meta Knight saw; minus the incessant arguments. "Then, you'll be heading toward where Link built his capital, which is on one of the Pop Star pieces. Since you'll be accompanied by people in Roy's army, they'll be too busy fighting off Link's guys, and while that's happening, you'll sneak into Link's palace, steal the magic sock, and leave."

It was a lot to digest, but Meta Knight saw that it was all in the realms of possibility. "I'll do it then. Right now, even."

Ribbon looked surprised. "Are you sure you want to do it now?"

"You've only woken up recently, haven't you? You still need to gather your strength." Bruce advised.

"I want to help Pop Star as soon as I can." Meta Knight said, his resolve not weakening.

Ribbon sighed, half in bemusement and half in annoyance. "Okay, if you're really sure about this..."

* * *

Over in Neo Star, Roy was in his control room, where two giant screens were set up. The whole room was deserted, leaving the flaming prince alone in the technological heated room. He sat in front of a webcam, impatiently tapping his fingers on the desk. Finally, one of the giant screens swtiched on; Link's face appeared on the screen. The guy was clearly sitting on a throne in front of a pane of glass windows, clearly enjoying himself.

"This was a pleasant surprise, Roy. Are you finally going to surrender your pathetic lands over to me?" Link sneered.

"Like hell I will."

"Oh, I'll end up getting it soon regardless."

"Not unless I go to your palace and fuck you up!" Roy yelled. Then, the other screen switched on, showing a yawning Porky. He was in a different universe entirely (which one, they were not sure), wearing a set of pajamas with a tie on.

"What the hell did I just walk into? Is this some sort of yaoi thing? This dialogue's really suggestive." Porky said.

"Oh shut up you!" Roy yelled.

"Why don't you two just kiss already? That would make a lot of fangirls happy. Heh heh..."

"Are we here to talk about Roy and I's relationship? Why did you call us, Roy? Are you here to gloat about your stupid Mr. Bright Cannon again? Because I've got people to kill, and I don't have time for your bs." Link questioned.

"It's not stupid! Anyway, I called you because Meta Knight finally woke up." Roy said; Link's face remained passive while Porky only raised an eyebrow. "Lord Giygas told Mewtwo to tell me to tell you guys to be careful of him."

"...You're lying." stated Link.

"What? I'm not lying!"

"You just want to get us paranoid enough so that we'd be looking around for Meta Knight; all while you're moving your army into position to kick our asses! Isn't that right? I FUCKING KNEW IT!" Link shrieked, putting his face really close to his webcam so that the others could see his glaring.

"You conniving son of a bitch!" Porky was on Link's side.

Roy was in exasperation. "Guys, I'm telling the truth! And why are you worried, Porky? You're not even in this universe right now!"

"I have my own priorities, so shut your face! Besides, since I'm not there, it'll be easier for you to jack my shit while I'm too busy looking for Stupid Knight!"

"I-"

"This conversation's over. See you later, loser!" Then, something grew out of Porky's back: his spider leg implant. It reached over to the webcam and struck it, taking Porky off of the air.

"I'll be watching for you. I can't wait to gut you like a fish." Link threatened with glee before leaving as well.

Roy slammed his head on his desk. "You guys suck..." He said to the blank screens.

* * *

"Yes... this will attract Meta Knight..." Fox murmured as he rifled through the drawers at Kirby's house. He saw what he was looking for and grabbed it before running out of the house; Pikachu, who had finally caught up to him at the house, was less than amused to see him heading back to the village.

"Damn it Fox." Pikachu said scathingly as he turned around and ran after Fox; the Pokémon took a short break, due to all the running he's done today before continuing to follow Fox. As he got back into town, he saw Fox disappear on the teleporter to the other section. Pikachu jumped onto it and when he materialized on the other landmass, he saw Fox standing on top of a cardboard box, holding something in the air: Meta Knight's mask.

"Hey Meta Knight! I got your mask! Come out come out wherever you are!" Fox shouted throughout the entire village. Some people passing by merely spared him a glance. Fox looked around, a bit disappointed by the lackluster results. "...Seriously Meta Knight, I have your mask. ...Aren't you going to beat me up?"

"This isn't working, Fox."

Fox ignored him, continuing to scream out loud. "Meta Knight! If you don't come out, I'll pee on your mask!" This time, the looks he got were that of amusement; those looks quickly turned into horror as an axe flew out of an alleyway and nearly missed Fox. The bystanders were quick to run off as the Axe Knight walked out of an alleyway.

"You better not plan on taking a leak on Lord Meta Knight's mask!" The Axe Knight yelled, waving his axe around like a crazy person.

"I only said that to call him out." Fox said, eyes fixated on the weapon. "...So, do you know where Meta Knight is?"

"Hmph. Meta Knight is meeting up with the resistance heads. You ain't getting in unless you're a member."

Pikachu, finally having enough of these Meta Knight antics, stomped up to the knight and grabbed him by the hand. He conducted a light charge through the Axe Knight's body; it wasn't enough to hurt him, but it was certainly enough to scare him. "I swear, if you don't bring us to Meta Knight, I'll be conducting 200 volts of electricity through you. Got that?"

The Axe Knight was completely terrified. "Alright! I'll bring you to your mate! Just don't shock me!" Pikachu let go of him. The Axe Knight started to lead them toward the entrance of the resistance stronghold, fearing the Pokemon's rage...

* * *

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

_**Author's Note**: Remember kids, if you don't get your way, threaten people with electricity! I'm mentioning once again, I have a fictionpress account, and I would appreciate it if you guys read the dumb thing I'm writing._

_Anyway, question time! Will we see Lee's brother? Where in the world is Porky Minch? Seriously, what the hell is Fox working on? How will Ribbon's plan turn out? Find out in the next (maybe) exciting chapter of The War Against Giygas!_


	4. Chapter 3: Back to Heroics

_**Author's Note**: I remember back then, when I didn't stress about having to write at least two chapters of things I wrote each week. Hahaha..._

_As a sidenote, this is the longest chapter for anything I've written this year so far. Huzzah!_

* * *

**_Chapter 3: Back to Heroics_**

* * *

In the middle of Subspace, within its seized palace, an artificial Pokémon sat in his office. Mewtwo lounged in a comfortable chair behind a nice desk formed with the creative energies of Subspace. He watched several computer screens, which displayed various things related to an important objective.

"When will he show up?" Mewtwo said to himself, impatiently. For the past few days, he's been having trouble locating this objective; for all he knew, the objective could be in a universe not controlled by Giygas' regime. Despite this though, he still had cameras put up in places the objective would be interested in visiting. Unfortunately for him, this day was no different from the others. He has also not gotten any reports regarding it, either. After a few more minutes of watching, Mewtwo decided to shut off the screens. He'd rather have his inferiors do the work for him; being right hand man to the future ruler of the dimension means that he has a lot of inferiors, and therefore, more suckers to do his work for him. Before he contacted someone to take his place, he decided to check on the whole 'Meta Knight' situation.

After a few rings of the phone, Roy answered, meekly. "Oh. Hi."

"Roy, how is the Meta Knight situation?" Mewtwo asked. "You know how troublesome he is; he could even rally Fox and Pikachu back into fighting against us, and we wouldn't want that to happen, now do we?"

"No... but, um, he sort of disappeared."

"Disappeared? ...Tell Porky and Link to be on their guards. Make sure they watch their domains closely."

"Um... I can't... do that." Roy said with a cough; he and the others have kept their in-fighting debacles a secret from the others. It was rather easy; as long as the Kirby universe didn't have any problems (well, major problems; they really don't see Ribbon as a threat), no one would investigate.

"Why not?"

"They... died?"

"..."

"...I'm starting a video conference between all of us. You better attend." Mewtwo said firmly. He slammed the phone down before Roy answered back. This could be irrelevant to the whole situation, he thought, but he needed to know whatever the three rulers of the Kirby universe were doing; it was sure to be something stupid and completely asinine.

* * *

"Ms. Ribbon!" a Sword Knight ran into her office and blocked the door. "It's Fox and Pikachu, you know, Meta Knight's friends! They're here looking for him!"

"Oh." Ribbon said. "Um... can you tell them, 'sorry, he already left?'"

"What!" An outraged squeak came from behind the door. An electrical surge went through the door; it was metallic, and unfortunately, so was the Sword Knight's armor. The shock went through the guy, making him cry out in pain before falling over unconscious.

Fox pushed the door open. "Sorry about him." He referred to the rat Pokémon running inside to give Ribbon a piece of his mind.

"What do you mean, Meta Knight is gone?" Pikachu growled. He shook his tiny fist at Ribbon, which was crackling with electricity.

"Pikachu, stop threatening people with electricity!" Fox pleaded. "You already beat up everyone else on the way here, anyway..."

The fairy made a little gasp. "He did what?"

"Not the point." Pikachu muttered. "Look, where did Meta Knight go?"

"...Okay, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to tell. He and two of my best men infiltrated Roy's army." she explained. "They're going to travel to Link's place with Roy's regular forces and sneak in during all the fi-"

"He whaaaat!" The rat Pokémon burst into a rant. "That idiot! What the hell does he think he's doing? He's just been in a coma for months and he's only just woken up yesterday! He can't fight, that fucking idiot..."

"At least he's doing something heroic."

Pikachu stopped to look at Ribbon. "What..?"

"Doing all these dangerous things and risking yourself is what heroes are supposed to do? You guys are supposed to be heroes too, right?" Ribbon asked.

"Yes..." Fox looked down at his feet. "But... we don't want to fight."

"Yeah. We just want to live peaceful lives instead of dealing with all these assholes all the time." Pikachu said, yet even he felt a little guilty.

"...So you'd rather live a normal life in a world where everyone's oppressed instead of fighting to make the world normal." the fairy leader said. This comment triggered something in Fox and Pikachu, who looked at her. "...There's nothing wrong with that, but still, what kind of heroes are you two if you prefer to just sit back and watch everything go mad? Then you want to convince Meta Knight to take the same route and..." She stopped when she saw the looks on their faces. "...I'm sorry, that's just my opinion."

Pikachu glared at her for almost half a minute before sighing. "...Let's go Fox."

Pikachu left Ribbon's office, with Fox following him without question. They strode through the halls of the secret base, whcih were littered with unconscious resistance members. Fox looked around without a purpose before asking. "Did she make you feel... terrible?"

"...Yeah."

"Me too."

Pikachu stopped in his tracks. "What kind of people are we? Who the hell would want to find peace in a world being ruled by a fucking maniacal space demon?"

"...Well, we're sort of heroic, I mean..." Fox tried to put on a smile and pointed at the wounded people around them. "We beat up all these people up to look for Meta Knight! ...That is heroic, right?"

"...Sort of." said Pikachu. He sat on the floor. "We're cowards, and Meta Knight is probably going to die..."

"No he won't! We can still look for him!" Fox picked him off of the floor. "How about instead of looking for him to take him home, we can, you know, help him?"

Pikachu looked at his face, worryingly. "You do know that Giygas and his band of assholes are going to hunt us down as soon as we pull anything, right?"

"Hey, you heard what the fairy lady said! Heroes are supposed to risk themselves!" Fox said with a daring laugh. "So, what do you say? Wanna help Meta Knight instead of keeping him safe?"

That sounded like a completely stupid statement... but Pikachu preferred the former. "Yes, let's help Meta Knight. We're going to act like heroes again, even if it's just this once."

"Yay!" The taller Smasher put Pikachu back on the ground. "Now let's hurry, I need to show you my proje-"

"You don't need to do that." said a girlish voice. They turned and saw Ribbon floating behind them, dangling a key in her hand. "If you two are willing to be heroes once, then I'm willing to lend a Warp Star once." She threw the key at Fox's feet and smiled. "Go and help Meta Knight!"

* * *

"Is it really that easy?" Meta Knight questioned.

"Pretty much." Lewis answered.

It was a simple matter to sneak into Roy's army - command was rather loose, and as long as the soldiers in the army are fighting and burning things, there were no problems. All the trio of knights had to do was to wear sets of armor that were covered red and pretend that they were a part of things; as expected, no one recognized Meta Knight, with the Axe Knight mask on. A simple request was also what got them on an airship (which looked like a smaller version of the blimp, Kabula, except with red flames painted on the sides) headed toward Link's territory.

Meta Knight looked out the window as they flew, to look down at the landscape, or rather, lack of a landscape. From an overhead view, the damage that was done to Popstar looked substantially worse: landmasses flew over the lava core of Popstar, with disjointed environments laid all over, some of which having been ravaged by fires, or Giygas' troops. "This is... worse than I imagined..."

"At least you weren't around to see it all turn to this." the Sword Knight quietly said, looking down at the floor.

"Besides, what these Roy, Porky, and Link people did to this planet and its civilians aren't the only awful things they've done." Bruce said. Before he continued, he looked at the other people in their airship to see if they were listening; the ordinary fighters were either chatting with each other, or, were staring at the ceiling, lost to the world. "...Right, anyway, those aren't the only deeds they've done. As you can see, they've also brainwashed people to fight in their wars. Think about it - most people on this planet have been effectively conditioned to the point of fighting for the honor of it, a little more wealth to support their destroyed homesteads,and just for kicks, due to having been driven insane by the regime. All these senseless fights happen everywhere... all because of a feud between their leaders."

Meta Knight slowly nodded. "I knew that alre-"

"Wait, there's more you need to hear." the Sir Kibble interrupted him. "You know how this world works: extra lives to allow you to get up again after a death and instant drowning for the poor fools that can't breathe underwater... I believe that's called a 'Universal Law'? I'm not sure. The point is, those laws are also being employed in this conflict. There is never a release from fighting; all the armies keep stockpiles of extra lives, so even if you want to die, you have to continue fighting in the endless war. Now, say that you want to torture somebody - constantly dropping them into a vat of water to die of suffocation then reviving them again is a good torture method - and it's regularly employed by Link. Porky and Roy are better, but not by much."

"Yeah. Roy is fairly relaxed for a jerk, but if you cross him, say hello to burning on a stake. If you piss Porky off, he has you dragged off to this 'Chimera Lab' place. No one has any idea what happens to the people that get sent there - all we could say is that they never come out."

"That all sounds bad, right? Now, imagine that spread out to all the planets, sans Ripple Star of course."

Meta Knight brooded over this with horror. He's been mainly focused on Pop Star, but now, having put the other planets into consideration as well as the information Ribbon's allies gave, he was now more intent as ever on stopping Giygas' forces here. "We need to stop this as soon as possible."

"Yeah!" Lewis shouted out loud, attracting a few stares from the others. "...I won rock, paper, scissors, yay..." Everyone turned away from him with a look of annoyance. "...The sooner we fix Pop Star up, the sooner the rebellion's plan can start. Everything will be back to normal soon, I hope."

"Then we could get back to our friends and family." Bruce said, almost joyously. "I have a little brother, you know."

"You do? You never told me! What kind of a friend are you?"

Bruce rolled his eyes... or rather, eye. The Sir Kibble took off his helmet, and underneath, it was revealed that he was a Waddle Doo. "My little brother's name is Lee. He's a Waddle Doo, just like me."

"Oh! What a pleasant surprise. It must be nice to have someone you're fighting for." the heroic knight said. But then, a pang of guilt hit him; surely, Fox and Pikachu weren't approving of his actions.

Then, like a mirror, Bruce reflected his emotion. "However, I haven't told Lee about what I'm doing..." The guilt clawed at both of them with that statement. "My brother has gone into delusional despair after I disappeared... I disguised myself as a Sir Kibble so that he wouldn't get connected to me and get targeted by Roy's people... I hope that I could make it up to him after all of this...

"...I'm sure that you will."

Lewis, who was pretty much the ordinary one in this drama, just looked back and forth over the two. "You guys are seriously depressing me.."

Then, as if on cue to break them out of their funk, a voice crackled over the people within the airship. "_We're approaching Link's stronghold on Pop Star, get ready to jump."_

* * *

Mewtwo tapped his fingers impatiently, waiting for the three oddballs of Pop Star to show up on the chat. He bided his time, watching the screens again to look for his objective - still nothing. A few minutes of screen watching later and his interviewees started showing up: Roy, followed by Porky, then Link. "Okay. I'm honestly surprised that all three of you attended at all." Before anyone else could say anything, Mewtwo cut straight to his point. "What the hell have you guys been up to?"

All three people on the video conference scratched their heads in unison. "...We are playing an awkward and rousing game of Mario Party." Porky offered.

"As if. Fortune Street is where it's at." Link scoffed.

"Fortune Street? That game is for stupid nerds that waste their time with investments and stuff!"

"You dare not agree with me? I'll kill you!"

"You guys aren't helping our case buuuut... Boom Blox is what we should be playing." Roy answered firmly.

The Pokemon watched as the three barnacleheads on the screen started arguing over which Wii party-game was the best. He was about to lose it when he saw a Starman walk in the background of Roy's videofeed. "You. Starman. What has Roy been up to for the past several months?"

"Huh? Oh, he's been in a civil war with Lords Porky and Link for quite awhile now." the Starman chirped.

Roy widened his eyes and was shown turning around and throwing a molotov at the idiot that answered Mewtwo. "Don't mind him. Just a little stir crazy from being on fire."

"...You three better start explaining now, or I'll get Giygas involved in this." Mewtwo threatened. The threat was very much effective, as none of them wanted to face their boss' judgement.

"Alright, alright. It all started several months ago, when Link stomped on my foot like the cowardly asshole he is..." Porky started.

Mewtwo could already tell that this was going to be stupid and asinine, just as he predicted.

* * *

The air whipped around Fox and Pikachu as they rode on a Warp Star, sailing through the skies of the shattered planet. They could feel the thick poison in the air, as well as the heat being radiated from below. It was much worse for Fox, who was only hanging on to the very ends of the Warp Star.

"Pikachu! Slow this thing down!" Fox screamed, trying hard to keep a grip on it.

"I would if I knew how!" Pikachu screamed back.

They continued to fly just like this toward where Ribbon told them where to go. Just then, they caught sight of an airship. Fox dived the Warp Star down to investigate, but was disappointed to discover that it didn't belong to Roy's faction. it was clear that it didn't belong to Roy because of the Pig Mask army theme that blared out from it. "_Attention fliers! You are in restricted airspace! Land immediately, or we'll be forced to shoot you out of the sk-"_

"Oh shut up." Pikachu muttered. With a crackle of electricity, a thunderbolt shot out from him and hit the airship, causing it to set ablaze and slowly descend.

"You have to watch out with using your moves, Pikachu!" Fox shouted. "You don't want... er... things to happen again, right?"

Pikachu remembered the last time he used up all of his available moves during a fight - it was not a fond memory. "Alright then." An explosion was heard in the distance, which worried the electric rat. "We're going to have to hurry this up."

* * *

Meta Knight, Lewis, Bruce, and Roy's ordinary soldiers landed at the entrance of Link's palace; dread filled Meta Knight when he saw that Link's palace was a half-destroyed part of Butter Building, which had broken helmets on pikes lining up to its entrance. He remembered Bruce's talk of Link's water torture and tried to look away from the helmets. He definitely missed the old Link, aka, the one who wasn't completely batshit and murderous.

"Charge!" A Roy-allied Bonkers yelled, waving a torch in hand instead of the traditional giant mallet. "Set fire to things as you ascend! Leave nothing unburnt!" Brief examination of the Butter Building area revealed burn scars from previous failed invasions. Evidence of the failed invasions, however, did not deter Roy's forces from running in. The most bloodthirsty, demented, and brainwashed people were the ones that led the pack, while all the people that still had some sanity and/or found dashing headfirst into a place that belonged to a complete psychopath a bad idea followed shortly afterward. Nobody noticed that Meta Knight, Lewis, and Bruce remained back at the landing point.

Meta Knight spread out his wings; he groaned a bit, seeing as he had not used his wings in a long time. "Alright... you two, grab onto my feet and tell me where to fly." Bruce and Lewis nodded and latched onto him. It was tough to manage, but Meta Knight found that he could fly with them attached.

"Head up there!" Bruce said with glee (due to being useful and expository for once), pointing up at one of the windows. Meta Knight grunted as he started to flap his wings furiously.

* * *

"Intruders. There are intruders! At the front door." a Spear Waddle Dee (who had definitely breathed in too much of the air) informed the rest of Link's soldiers. Link didn't ask for a uniform, instead, he told his soldiers to mark themselves with the Triforce (he found it familiar, as unfitting as it is), either through marks or tattoos.

An angry Scarfy (all of the crazy Scarfys were in their scary form by default) screamed, "Let's rip their throats out!"

"Um... don't we have to inform Master Link about... er, this?" questioned a sane-ish Blade Knight.

"Fool!" The Scarfy bit him. "He's in an important meeting! If we interrupt him, he'll cut us down!"

"A-A-Alright, but did you really have to bite m-"

"YES!"

"..Okay. Yes. Let's fight. Fight them on. Our own. Yes, our own." the Spear Waddle Dee stammered.

* * *

"...so Roy stole my sweet-ass bomb design that set forests on fire in a single use." Porky complained.

"Then he set fire to Butter Building. I tried to chuck a sword at his head, but I missed!" Link screamed, all while giving the bird to the screen to emphasize his hate toward Roy (as well as Porky for unmentioned offenses). "So. That's pretty much why we started this war."

Mewtwo had spent the last several minutes silently glaring at them as they told him their story. Finally, he decided to say something. "You three are complete idiots that have no sense of priorities. _Why would you start a war over such stupid reasons?_"

"I wanted them to see me burn down everything they lo-" the flame loving swordsman tried to answer.

"Don't. Not another word." Mewtwo groaned. "I'll figure out how to deal with this later; Giygas will definitely be hearing about this." The three idiots gulped. "For now, you three have a new job, and you **will** focus on it: kill Meta Knight, Pikachu, and Fox. I don't care that none of them has even done anything yet. Kill them until they run out of lives and destroy the corpses. Destroy their entire existence, got that?"

"Yes!" Link shouted joyously, as he was the only one that found a bright spot in all of this. "I'll kill them right away~! ...Oh hold on, I hear something outside..." with that, the green-armored warrior left.

"Hey, look, all this fear and threats are cool and all, but I've got an important thing to do." Porky said.

"I know. Just tell your forces in the Kirby universe to be on the lookout." Mewtwo growled.

"Right. See you later, porkbutt!" Porky said, the insult directed at Roy. He left too, leaving Roy with his long-time superior.

The Pokémon shook his head. "You've seriously disappointed me Roy."

"...Sorry." Roy apologized. "Look, I'll get into my mecha and try to fry those guys, alright?" Mewtwo did not answer, instead he only provided an angry glare. Roy immediately left before things got worse between them.

* * *

"...Roy's forces? Here...?" Link was questioning some of his soldiers. He looked at the scene outside the window and giggled a bit. "Look, as fun as this looks, you have to call for a ceasefire. We've got bigger fish to fry."

"Stop... stop fighting? Joking. You are... joking. Right?" the Spear Waddle Dee.

"Ha ha..._ I'M NOT JOKING!_" Without warning, Link swung his longsword at the Waddle Dee, slashing him. "Obey me! Call for a ceasefire, or I_ will throw you out the fucking window!_"

"Y...Yes..." the Spear Waddle Dee scampered away. Link calmly followed after him, smiling like he hadn't just cut him up. The other soldiers on the floor watched him leave down one end of the hallway; as he left, Meta Knight flew in through the window on the other end of the hallway, Bruce and Lewis in tow.

"Here we ar- aw crap." Bruce muttered as every eye turned toward them.

"...KILL THEM!" the Scarfy screamed. Ignoring the fact that Link called for a ceasefire (they were still garbed like Roy's army), they launched an attack on the three warriors.

"Take this, you fiends!" Lewis yelled. Combining his Waddle Doo beam powers and Sir Kibble cutters, he threw the boomerang-like blades, which had energy beams attached to them; his cutters barreled through the enemies, but as badly hurt as they were, they got back up to continue trying to kill them. Bruce showed off his adept swordsmanship skills, taking on the hordes with sword alone. Meta Knight joined in the assault as well, cutting through Link's fighters with ease. They managed to take down many of the insane fighters, but the trio started to tire out (especially Meta Knight), when there were still plently of enemies left. But then...

"GERONIMO!" a familiar voice screamed from behind one of the windows. Meta Knight smiled, knowing who it was before the Warp Star crashed through the window - Fox. Pikachu and Fox sped into the hallway and landed the Warpstar right on top of a group of Link's soldiers. The moment of surprise allowed them to deal with the ones that weren't knocked unconscious by the crash.

Before the two Smashers started a fight between Meta Knight and his two companions, he took off his mask, showing his blue Kirby-esque face. "Don't worry, it's me, Meta Knight! These two are allies of mine!"

Silence filled the air as the Smashers stared each other down. Then, Fox and Pikachu ran over, with nothing else that mattered to them. "Meta Knight!" They said in unison as they pounced on the small knight, giving a group hug.

"Ow... I'm glad to see you too." Meta Knight said with a small chuckle. "By the way... I'm sorry for running out on you two. If you wish to beat me up... then by all means." He closed his eyes, expecting Pikachu to maim him for the trouble he's put he and Fox through.

"No. I'm not doing that." Pikachu said quietly. "I was angry at first, but... I've realized that Fox and I were selfish cowards for sitting back and letting Giygas' side completely take over."

"Glad that you've finally realized it." Lewis said, beaming. As usual, Bruce responded by punching him in the arm. "Ow, can't I catch a break?"

"You shouldn't worry anymore Meta Knight! We're here to help with... whatever it is... we're doing." Fox said.

"What a nice reunion." Lewis said, emotion swelling up inside of him. "I hope Lee and I will have a reunion just as delightful."

"Wait..." Pikachu stopped hugging Meta Knight to look over to Bruce. "You're Lee's brother?"

Bruce removed his helmet, showing off his Waddle Doo face. "Yeah... how did you guess?"

"I've met your brother. He misses you man, and he's completely bonkers as hell."

"...As soon as we're done with this, visiting Lee will be the first thing I do."

"He'll be glad to hear that."

"This... this is touching and all but... can we get back to our mission? Please?" Lewis requested.

"...Killjoy." Fox muttered.

"Alright. You guys get back to whatever you were doing, and we'll fix this Warp Star back up so we can get out of here!" Pikachu said. His optimistic attitude sank when it hit him. "How do we get this hunk of crap flying again?"

"I know how!" Fox volunteered. He spontaneously pulled a wrench out of his pocket and started toying around with the Warp Star; he pressed a hidden button on it, which opened a hatch that guarded its engine.

As he got to work, the others just gaped at him. "How do you know... and where did you get that wrench from?" Pikachu questioned.

"You'll see!" Fox laughed.

Meta Knight had some questions to ask, but he really had to get back to the mission at hand. Bruce and Lewis volunteered to guard Fox and Pikachu while Meta Knight went into Link's office. It was less of an office and more of a 'room filled with weapons and helmets that were stolen off of other people' (in other words, a Trophy Room). The only things that were out of place were a bed, a lamp, a nightstand... and the sock that sat on top of said stand. The knight grabbed the sock and looked around; he was honestly surprised that the room wasn't booby-trapped.

"There we go! It's as easy as finding the area of a circle with cake!" Fox said triumphantly. Meta Knight exited the room and saw the animal looking at the Warp Star with a satisfied look on his face.

"I think you meant pie." Bruce corrected. He glanced at Meta Knight and went ecstatic when he saw the magic sock tucked in his hands. "The magic sock! You have it!"

"Yeah! Great job Lord Meta Knight!" Bruce complimented.

"Good. Now, let's get going before Link comes up." Pikachu said, worried about the prospect of having to fight Link. The five people piled onto the Warp Star, with Fox driving at the front.

"Here we go!" he announced.

* * *

Link stood at the front of his soldiers and Roy's, having taken authority over the whole lot. "Alright, now that everyone's stopped fighting..." He glanced over with a smile at a pile of people he butchered to get them to pay attention to him. "...we all have some important people to kill; orders straight from Lord Giygas himself." Everybody gasped, anxious by the recent development. "If you see a tall Fox, a small yellow rat, and some midget poser blue swordsman, kill them on the spot, got it?"

"...Aren't that them right there?" the Bonkers pointed up to the floor that Link's office was on - a Warp Star was speeding out of it, with the targets that Link just described clearly sitting on it.

"...Aaaaaa_AAARRRGG**HHH SHIIIIIIT!**_" Link immediately took his anger out on the Bonkers, beheading him with a single stroke of the blade. The Bonkers revived and promptly stepped away from him, not wanting to end up like the saps Link outright murdered. The swordsman pointed his sword at the air, teeth barred. "_GET THEM! KILL THEM! SHOOT THEM OUT OF THE DAMN SKY!_" The people capable of flying immediately lifted away and chased after the Warp Star.

"Looks like we have company..." Pikachu said as he glared at the enemies who were trailing behind them. With a shout, he mustered up a thunderbolt, which struck right through some of them.

"Let me help too!" Lewis said. He confidently threw off his helmet and launched a beam at a Bronto Burt. He and Pikachu worked together, picking off the people flying after them.

All the while, the magical sock glowed...

* * *

"It's finally happening!" Prince Fluff jumped with joy, running around his domain within the Patch Land. The first thing he did was morph into a car and drive to the portal up to Ripple Star. He emerged into the queen's throne room, where the Fairy Queen currently was. "Ms. Fairy Queen, the portal is opening!"

"Really?" the now yarn-spun queen said in utter shock. She followed him back to his castle, where he brought her over to where he set up his magical sock. His magical sock glowed just like the one on the other side.

"Hurry, follow me!" the prince of the land said excitedly. He led her in car form, bringing her to the border of Quilty Square and Space Land; the magical yarn that stitched the two pieces of land together was sticking out of the ground. "I could always just take the long way around to get to Space Land. Now, help me with this thing!" He threw a yarn which wrapped around the magical yarn, and the Fairy Queen did the same. Together, they pulled and pulled on it, trying to unearth the yarn. Finally, after so much pulling, they freed the yarn from the ground.

The magical yarn spun and spun around the air until it drifted to Quilty Square and through the portal...

* * *

...where it emerged from the other side. The glowing yarn flew out of the sock in Meta Knight's hands.

"Here we go..." Nobody said those words, but everyone on the Warp Star thought of them, anticipating what the magical yarn would do.

The magical yarn drifted down toward one of Pop Star's landmasses...

* * *

...the yarn poked through the ground of a landmass and it snaked its way through the air and went into another landmass. Then, the landmasses were pulled together, forming a nice big bit of landmass before another bit was added to it.

Roy watched from above in his flaming death mecha (he still had it, after eighteen months), the reality of the situation hitting him: Pop Star was being repaired.

"...Mewtwo's going to kill me..." Roy groaned. He hated himself for this, however, he realized that he still had one thing left to do. Grinning, he flew his mecha upward through the atmosphere, with an idea. He hoped that the idea would make this whole thing not a complete failure.

* * *

All citizens of Pop Star, whether sane or crazy, whatever side they were on, all watched the spectacle that was the magical yarn, as it weaved its way, stitching Pop Star back together. The people loyal to Giygas' cause, regardless of the split factions they were on, looked baffled, wondering what to do.

Then, the resistance made its move. Resistance members that were on different landmasses united, and immediately attacked the confused and distracted enemies; they never stood a chance.

* * *

The landmasses that contained the the village that was near Kirby's house stitched together as the Warp Star landed. The teleporters were being turned off, as it was clear that it was no longer needed. The resistance there emerged from its underground hideout, easily defeating any hostile force. Ribbon was there to greet the Smashers and her two warriors.

"You did it! You really did it!" the fairy cheered and proceeded to give a friendly, congratulatory hug to each of the five heroes.

The hugs weren't over for Bruce. He turned his head to look at the celebrating villagers and saw a small Waddle Doo boy looking at him. "..Big bro? Is that really you?"

"Lee!" Bruce ran over to Lee (do you get the pun now) and took him into his arms, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry I left. I didn't want you to get involved... now come on. I'm going to take you somewhere safe."

"Yay! Are we going to have a party?"

"Anything you want." Bruce brought Lee over to Warp Star and they held on as Bruce piloted the Warp Star, headed towards parts unknown.

"...They didn't even ask if they could take it." Fox murmured.

"Let them have their moment, Fox." Pikachu said, trying not to cry at their happy reunion.

"You all did well, and I say that Bruce deserves a break with his brother!" Ribbon chirped. "Lewis, are you still going to fight with us? There's still a lot of work to be done."

"Are you kidding me? I won't stop fighting until all these Giygas creeps are done!" Lewis said with a roar. He left with Ribbon, to go check on how the resistance was doing.

Pikachu looked at Meta Knight and Fox, a serious look on his face; it was time to get to business."Okay, we need to head home, grab everything we need, and get the hell out of here. Roy or Porky might be coming here to kill us as we speak."

"...Can I show my project now? Fox questioned.

"Could that wait for a bit, Fox?" Meta Knight responded. The three of them started running home, as sounds of celebrations continued behind them. Pikachu kicked down Kirby's front door, not having a care about trashing Kirby's home anymore.

"What are we going to do now?" Fox said, as he gathered non-perishable foods from the kitchen.

"We're going back to being heroes, Fox." Pikachu replied, while looking around for important things. "I don't know how we're going to do that, but it's better than being a damn coward."

"Good for you two." Meta Knight commented, as he looked around in his room for something. His search quickly turned frantic, as he could not find what he was looking for anywhere.

"Oh, wait, almost forgot!" Pikachu shouted from the hallway. He ran into Meta Knight's room and presented precisely what the knight was looking for: his mask.

"...Thank you, Pikachu." He took off the skull mask, showing off his smile as he put his old mask back on. They joined Fox in the living room, who carried a suitcase full of things he and Pikachu put in.

"Ready?" Fox asked. The other two nodded. "Alright, let's go!" They stepped outside... and they could immediately tell that there was something wrong. "...Why is it quiet? Did everybody leave?" Indeed, no more noise came from the village.

Pikachu looked up and gasped. "They evacuated, more like it." The trio looked up. Instead of a giant landmass, they saw something much more frightening. In the middle of the night sky, an orange-ish light glowed and pulsed.

"What... is that?" Meta Knight asked, although, he already could tell that this was going to be bad.

"Roy's Mr. Bright Cannon." Pikachu said, sweat already dripping down his forehead - he could already feel the heat. "That pyromaniac made a satellite that collects power from the sun for several weeks, then, he uses the energy to fire a beam that fries everything in a 3-mile radius of the blast." He gulped. "The flames will last several minutes, so even if we had extra lives, we'd be burnt to cinders after dying multiple times. The point is, _we're fucking dead._"

Pikachu and Meta Knight looked up at the light from the satellite, feeling a null feeling within them. After all this, they were going to die. However, the only one that wasn't overcome with despair was Fox. There wasn't optimism in his eyes - there was a daring, confident look in him. "Guys, can you look at my project now?"

"...Sure Fox." Meta Knight answered with a sigh. If they were going to die, then he was going to help with Fox's last wish.

"Alright! Come on, hurry up, before we get cooked!" Fox yelled as he broke into a run. Even though things seemed hopeless, Pikachu and Meta Knight found themselves running alongside him. He led the two of them to a hill with a rock wall and presented it to them proudly.

"...That is a hill, Fox." Pikachu muttered, making a quick glance at the sky.

"Yes it is!" Fox said proudly. "But inside..." He reached up and grabbed something the two didn't see: a handle. Fox pulled the handle down and everyone moved back as the wall fell over. Meta Knight's and Pikachu's eyes widened as they saw what was inside the hill: it was a garage of some sort, filled with tools, chunks of metal, and automobile parts. But it was the centerpiece that really grabbed their attention. In the center of the garage was an Arwing. It was of assorted colors, clearly being made out of different metals - despite the appearance, it was nice and sturdy. Fox grinned, an almost manic look in his eyes. "Surprise!"

"You... you..." Pikachu was grinning now. "You've been building this behind my back, haven't you?"

"Yup! Remember that package I got? It was the last parts I needed to get this running!" Fox hugged the front of the Arwing. "I was hoping to surprise you with this. I thought it would be nice to fly around Pop Star instead of using teleporters, but since we need some way to escape, I decided to show this now!"

Meta Knight looked at him in silence before he started clapping, clearly overjoyed. "Fox, you truly are smarter than you let on!"

"Ha ha, thanks! Oh, and the best part is, I made the cockpit big enough for all of us to be comfortable in!"

"That's great! Now, let's get in there before we die horribly, okay?" Pikachu said, his jerk persona re-emerging now that death was no longer hanging over their heads. Fox opened the cockpit and got into the pilot's seat, with Pikachu sitting behind him and Meta Knight in a third seat. The insides was clearly made with whatever Fox could get his hands on, but the screens and buttons and functions were still very operative.

Fox started up the engine and a gentle purring sound emitted from the Arwing. "Let's fly!"

* * *

Roy had flew his mecha up to his glorious Mr. Bright Cannon. Normally, he saved the energy he gathered over the weeks for important targets, like places that Porky and Link valued. However, getting rid of Fox, Meta Knight, and Pikachu definitely warranted a use. The usual operators of the place seemed to had fled the moment that Pop Star started getting sewed up; speaking of which, Roy could see Pop Star in its entirety from up in space. It was possible that they could pull another Exor and shatter Pop Star, however, its inhabitants would definitely be expecting it, the next time around.

Roy had got behind the controls of the satellite himself and set the coordinates for Kirby's house. "Looks like I'm finally burning the place down.." he mused as he waited for the cannon to load.

Finally, the cannon was operational. Roy hovered his finger over the 'fire' button. "So long." He said as he pressed it. He felt the station heat up as the cannon fired its beam toward the planet. "...Yup, they definitely won't be surviving this."

* * *

The beam hit Kirby's house. Upon just being touched, the whole place turned into ash. A shockwave materialized as the beam hit the ground and started to move, starting huge geysers of flame within the 3-mile radius, setting everything in reach ablaze: the environment, the abandoned village, and the garage.

However, it failed to hit one thing: the Arwing, which had already flown away from the site. Fox looked at a screen which showed the view behind the Arwing and saw the geysers of flame. "Do you think everybody got out okay?"

"Positive. I doubt that Ribbon would let anyone die." Meta Knight answered.

"Alright then! ...So, what now?"

"Do like we used to do - fly into space, see wherever this dumb story takes us, and do our heroic thing." Pikachu answered. With a nod, Fox started lifting the Arwing up into the air and it jetted up through the Giygas gas infested clouds and into space, heading off to the unknown.

* * *

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

_**Author's Note**: And with that, the arc in Kirby's universe is done! In the next chapter, we'll be seeing Giygas again, along with his full crew. What has everybody been up to? Especially Porky? And what ever happened to good old Falco? Find out, in the next exciting chapter of the War Against Giygas!_


	5. Chapter 4: A Villainous Get-Together

_**Author's Note:** Writing is suffering and so is being a Puella Magi._

* * *

_**Chapter 4:** A Villainous Get-Together_

* * *

"_They're everywhere! Retreat!"_

_"New airships from Subspace have already been trashed! Trashed I say! They were expecting it! Not good, double plus ungood!"_

_"Falling back to Shiver Star! Fall back!"_

_"Regroup is necessary. Get more weapons. Enemies likely to expect counter-attack. Succession probability: 65%."_

_"Welp, Orange Ocean is a lost cause now. They came out of nowhere, I tell you!"_

_"Chimera Lab K-Pop Star has been evacuated. All evidence left behind has been destroyed. Preparing evacuation for Chimera Lab K-Rock Star."_

_"Some of the people under Roy, Porky, and Link have turned against us! Run!"_

Screens and speakers in the room blared in the red-mist filled room, which delivered announcements from all over Pop Star. In the middle of the room sat the demon himself, Giygas. He listened to it all, and kept a stoic face on; however, anyone could tell that beneath the calm and calculating exterior was a blistering rage, which would burn anyone who dared bother him to a crisp. He listened to the messages for minutes, so he could properly understand the situation. After having a full grasp on what happened, Giygas said, "Turn it off. Turn it all off."

The voices all flickered off - Mewtwo's voice was an exception. "That's the main gist of it. Roy and Link are already attempting damage control, however, some of their troops are defecting."

"...How did this happen...? After holding control over that retchingly cheerful planet for months, we're losing it all in one day because of three puny beings?" Giygas felt angry, most of the anger directed at himself. "I knew it. I should have had those three executed when I had the chance. I was too arrogant, allowing those pests to live after all they've done..."

"Don't blame yourself, sir. Blame Roy, Link, and Porky for this utter disaster." Mewtwo's voice droned. "If they weren't so busy hating each other and waging petty civil wars, they would've been more attentive to what had been going on."

"Didn't those idiots listen to you when you warned them?"

"Roy did, but the others didn't listen to him on account of their feud."

"Those fools... they all need to be punished..."

"How will you punish them, though?"

"Oh, I'll think of something." Giygas huffed. The red mist swirled in the air as Giygas' consciousness created something: he reformed his Giegue avatar body, which was much more mobile than his gaseous body. His consciousness shifted from the cloud to the body, which was already active. The dark blade that he had used during the reclamation of Subspace hung at his side. "Mewtwo, contact everybody. We're having a meeting - a proper face to face one."

"...Understood."

Giygas walked his body out of the room. He strode through the halls of the celestial of the palace of Subspace, eyes darting everywhere suspiciously. He passed by Primids and other servants that were seized from other universes, and they praised him as he went by; at one time, they were once terrified by him, but several months in his presence had clearly driven them mad.

The demon walked and walked until he located a large, spacious room. He drew upon the creative energies of Subspace - purple, glowing specks gathered at the center of the room, creating a rectangular shape. Giygas' thoughts designated what the specks formed: a long table now sat stretched across the middle of the room, with a design similar to Subspace's celestial pathways. He then conjured up several chairs that resembled thrones, and he sat down on one at the end of the table. Finally, he last created several things: lines drew up in the middle of the fabric of space and they expanded into a bulge and then into an opening. Portals now floated around the table, to bring Giygas' trusted lieutenants to him.

The demon waited patiently as they started to appear.

The first to appear was the space dragon, Ridley. Or was he a dinosaur? God, even with all the research I do on the various game worlds present in my stories, i still haven't bothered to look up what Ridley actually is. Hm? Oh dear, my unprofessionalism isn't showing again. Unprovoked fourth wall breaking is a terrible thing.

Anyway, the first one to appear was Ridley, who flew through the portal to the StarFox universe, where he was appointed. The dragon grew to be much bulkier, and his scales were sharper (it's a shame that his menacing appearance doesn't match his personality in my stories). Notably, Ridley wore a cap that said 'General' on the top of his head.

The terrifying beast made a friendly wave to Giygas. "Hi boss!"

Giygas did not return his wave. "Yes, hello Ridley."

"Wow, it's been awhile since you've called a meeting."

"It's been approximately seven months and eight days since we've last had a meeting." Mewtwo informed as he floated in.

"Hey Mewtwo! Are there going to be snacks for this meeting?"

"What? No."

"But... it can't be a meeting without snacks..."

"Why should I...?"

"Just order one of your lackies to bring some damn snacks." Giygas commanded Mewtwo.

"Alright." Mewtwo growled in annoyance. He brung a walkie-talkie up to his face. "Kitchen staff, I want you to bring some chips to-"

"I'd actually prefer cupcakes." Ridley stated.

"-bring cupcakes to the large room on the fourth floor."

Minutes later, a Primid pushed a cart with a tray of cupcakes into the room and hurried out. While Ridley started gorging on the cupcakes, someone flew in from the portal to the Mario universe: King Boo. The regal Boo was hasn't changed much in the past several months - he wore a shinier crown on his head, but that's pretty much it. "What's up you gu- oh sweet, cupcakes!"

King Boo floated over to the cupcake cart. Before he could grab one, Ridley smacked the ghost king's hand away. "Sorry! It's for competent villains only!" Ridley teased.

"Oh what?" King Boo said, a bit miffed. King Boo was the least efficient of Giygas' lieutenants. For the last eighteen months, he was assigned to take over the Mario universe. However, he hasn't really made much progress on that. The king didn't even have to look at his boss to know that he was glaring daggers at him. He shook his mind off of this to plead to Mewtwo. "Can you tell Ridley to give me a cupcake?"

"Sorry. Those cupcakes are just for him." Mewtwo said, all while chewing on a Pokeblock flavored cupcake.

"...You guys are jerks."

"We're villains. What do you expect?"

Before this launched into an argument, Jeff Andonauts appeared from the portal to, not his home universe, but the F-Zero universe. Jeff's hair was kept short, and he still wore thick glasses. He was a foot taller than he used to be, though. he had also gotten rid of the suit, instead, he had on a casual t-shirt with dress pants, which went under a large lab coat; the sleeves were longer than his arms, and its coat tails dragged behind him. The coat did a good job at hiding his 'unnatural parts' though. "Um, what is this meeting about? Sirs?" He spoke in an awkward voice - that's puberty for ya, folks.

"Don't know. Want a cupcake?" Ridley offered. The human teenager gratefully accepted it.

"Come on!" King Boo whined. "A lot of people hate Jeff as much as me! Why are you giving him food?"

"People only hate Jeff for his life choices ("Hey, I resent that!" Jeff said). Unlike you though, he gets things accomplished." Giygas spoke ominously. King Boo quickly decided to take the farthest seat from Giygas.

"Hm?" A ringing noise came from Mewtwo. He pulled out a cell phone from god knows where and answered. "Hello? ...Yes... fine." He put the phone down and faced Giygas. "Dr. Mario and Pichu might not make it."

"If it isn't important, then tell them to hurry it up and get here." Mewtwo nodded to his superior and went to respond to his Melee comrades.

While they did that, the witch girl, Ashley, stepped out of the WarioWare portal. A red jacket was worn on top of a t-shirt with a skull on it, which she wore with a skirt and black stockings. She had let her hair down, and covering it was an ordinary yet noticeable tiara. Her cold eyes looked at everyone. "Hello sir. Mewtwo. Ridley. ...You." The last one was obviously aimed at King Boo, who took offense to it.

"Hello Ashley." Giygas greeted. Ashley was among his few serious and more composed (in terms of sanity) lieutenants, so he was a bit respectful toward her. "Take a seat. The meeting will start soon."

She looked around the room, saw the number of chairs, and frowned. "Oh. This must really be important if we're all meeting here."

"Yes. Very important."

Ashley nodded and looked back at her portal, her eyes a bit warmer. "You can come out, Lucas."

Lucas carefully exited the portal. His hair style was the same, but the hair wasn't properly combed. Lights dotted his neck - all of them were dim, none of them shining brightly. In a sad bit of irony, instead of his usual stripped shirt get-up, he wore the uniform of the Masked Man, aka, his dead brother - the significance of the clothes seemed to have no effect on him. "...W-Where's Porky...?"

"Boy, as amusing as it sounds, you're not allowed to beat Porky up for the things he did to you in the past." Giygas said. Although, after he said this, he started to reconsider it as Porky's punishment.

"Yes. He's nothing to worry about, so treat him like a friend." Ashley then whispered to her servant, "You can hurt him later when no one's paying attention, okay?"

"Hee hee, you're the best, Ashley..."

"Hmmf... do you two want cupcakes?" Ridley asked.

While the two teenagers happily took some, King Boo questioned/whined, "Are you just giving out cupcakes to everyone but me?"

"Well... you only deserve cupcakes if you're successful."

"But I haven't succeeded at much!"

"Exactly!" the space dragon continued to pass out cupcakes, all while chewing some up himself with a ferocious hunger.

"...Did the boss tell you not to give me any food?" King Boo asked, giving a brief glance to Giygas, who was just observing everybody's antics.

"...Maybe..."

"This better be good. I was in the middle of an operation." Dr. Mario said, having appeared while no one was paying attention. The mad doctor had no change in size and clothing. However, he was starting to develop a beard with his mustache.

"You ditched somebody while you were operating on them?" Mewtwo asked.

"Do you care, sir?"

"...No."

"...I cared though. I was removing the guy's spleen and replacing it with a liver..." Dr. Mario said, daydream like.

"Sounds painful." Jeff commented. He shivered when the doctor shifted his gaze to him.

"You would know painful, wouldn't you?"

"Yeah!" Pichu exited the portal to the Pokémon universe (despite having access to it, Giygas and crew haven't made their presence there yet). The young Pokémon looked fiercer, with scars all over his body. "Remember, if we can beat you up once, we could do it again!"

Jeff caressed his metallic arm under his sleeves. "Please don't." He pleaded.

"Stop being scary guys! Be happy and have some cupcakes! The chocolate ones are really good." Ridley said, presenting the cart of cupcakes to the Melee Smashers.

"Hmm... Oran Berry flavor..." as Pichu chewed on one of the delicacies, the scars on his arms magically disappeared. "Can you give me more of these? I'm trying to level grind so that I can defeat..." he shook his fist. "_...that damn Pikachu._"

"Pichu, I keep telling you that wild Pokémon don't give you much experience." Mewtwo exchanged. "You'd be better off fighting trainer Pokémon."

"But trainers keep throwing Pokeballs at me! I could never kill Pikachu if I'm in a Pokeball!"

"...Right..." Mewtwo rolled his eyes then looked down at a list of names. "Okay, we're still waiting for Tom Nook, Vaati, Porky, Roy, and Link; although, I doubt that Roy and Link will show up, after what happened."

"What did happen, Mewtwo?" Ridley questioned, being seized with curiosity. Everyone else was just as curious.

"That will be covered in the meeting." Giygas declared. "Just be patient. Try not to kill each other while we're waiting."

Their attention was pulled to the Zelda portal, which was emitting a gust of wind. Then, a miniature tornado came swirling out of it, winds whipping around it in perfectly controlled patterns. The winds then dispersed, revealing a posing Vaati. The wind mage had shutter shades on his face and a scarf around his neck. He had a t-shirt with the same design as his old robes, which complimented purple-plaid dress pants; basically, Vaati had turned into a hipster since the events of the last story. "Here I am, fashionably late as usual!"

"You're not late, Vaati." Giygas sighed. As helpful as he was, Vaati was embarrassing.

"...Well crap. I wanted my entrance to be last..."

"That entrance was as dumb as your shades." King Boo stated.

Vaati glared at them, King Boo having re-ignited their hate for each other yet again. Tension quickly stuffed the air as the two faced each other. "Well, your crown is ridiculous. Really, out of all the things you could have made with the limitless amount of resources at our disposal, you created a shinier crown? That's stupid. And so is your face."

"Shut up! Your hat is stupider!"

"My hat is fabulous! It makes the fangirls explode with glee, you uncultured specter!"

King Boo took Vaati's hat off his head, to his surprise. "Don't let him get this!"

The ghost threw it and it landed in Jeff's hands. "Huh?" The boy looked up and saw Vaati running at him, arms flailing, so he quickly passed it along to Dr. Mario.

The doctor was amused by this game. "Quick, catch!" He transferred it to a waiting Pichu, who then threw it over to Ridley, who passed it to Lucas next. Vaati ran in circles as the other villains threw his hat around, whining and weaboo-ing all the while. The only ones who weren't participating was Giygas, Mewtwo, and Ashley, who just watched in disdain.

"Can you two stop this?" Giygas requested, although, Mewtwo and Ashley could tell that it was more of a command. Mewtwo nodded. His eyes glowed as he focused on the flying hat, and he used his powers to stop it in mid-air. Ashley then took a wand out of her jacket pockets and waved it, which turned the hat into a slab of meat. Ridley caught a whiff of it and immediately snapped it up.

"You... you ate my hat..." Vaati said in disbelief.

"It tastes delicious!" Ridley said, licking his lips. Or muzzle. Or... do I know animal anatomy? Especially anatomy for an animal that doesn't exist?

"Aw... you guys are no fun at all, are you?" King Boo said to the three serious villains.

"We were having fun..." Lucas complained.

"Lucas..." Ashley walked up to him and pointed her wand in his face. With a bit of willpower, the wand turned into a pistol. "You don't want me to hurt you, do you?" She asked with a smile.

"N-No. I'm sorry..."

"I'm glad that you're sorry." She put her wand away with a small grin.

"Why did you have to ruin our fun, sir?" a pouting Pichu said.

"I'm not in the mood for anyone's bullshit right now." Giygas growled. "You can bully each other on your own time."

"B-but sir... my hat..." Vaati stuttered.

"You can make another one, can't you?"

"...Oh right!" Vaati closed his eyes and focused as purple specks collected above his head; a fresh new hat identical to the last one landed on his head. "Hooray!"

"Satisfied? Good. Now shut the hell up and sit down."

"Did something happen while I was gone?" A voice in the middle of the room asked. Tom Nook stood on top of the table, with no indication as to how he got there. The tanooki now wore a business suit instead of an apron, so that he could at least look a bit more threatening.

Mewtwo scowled at Tom Nook; he still rather disliked him, along with Vaati. "Just something stupid."

"As usual?"

"Yes."

"Ah. I'll just take my seat then." the tanooki calmly sat down and took out a briefcase. He pulled out some papers to read over until the meeting properly started.

"You idiots better take a good look at him." Giygas said, calling attention to the tanooki. "Unlike you, he simply sat down instead of fooling around. Let his example be a lesson to you."

Tom Nook looked up from his forms. "Er, what's got you down?"

"You'll see." Giygas snarled, his Giegue avatar clenching its teeth.

"GAH!" a scream came from the Kirby portal. Link fell out, with a blood stained sword and tunic. "Damn those guys..."

"What happened?" Jeff inquired.

"The sane people that aren't bloodthirsty in my army turned against me." Link cursed. "I had to fight my way through hallways full of assholes to get here... not that I'm complaining. It was fun, but annoying as hell."

"Huh? Did something bad happen?"

"Oh, you can say that. Let's just say that there are a lot of fuckers that need there lives extinguished." He tried to put on a cheerful face and looked at his leader. "So, is everybody here yet?"

"No." Giygas responded, giving Link a death glare - it was only then did Link remember that the whole problem was his fault. "Just sit down, and wait patiently. Your punishment will be worse if you try to fight Porky and Roy when they get here, got that?"

"But what if I want t-"

"Your bloodlust is admirable, but keep your killing on the down low for now."

Link sat down and crossed his arms like a child. "Fine..."

"Hey, I'm here now." Porky announced as he exited the portal that led to a universe that hasn't been properly seen yet in either this story or the last. "Goddamn, why are there so many losers in here?"

"Just sit down, Porky." said Giygas.

"Murp... want a cupcake? They're almost gone." Ridley offered.

"Thanks, dino-brain. Don't mind if I d-" he reached over to take a cupcake from the space dragon, but before he received it, King Boo snatched it and started to float away.

"Hey, that wasn't for you!"

"Finders keepers!" King Boo laughed. He was too busy laughing at Ridley that he failed to notice where he was going and bumped into Dr. Mario, sending him sprawling on the floor. "Oh. Whoops."

"Grr..." Dr. Mario got off the floor, pulling medical knives from his doctor's coat. "Take this, you ectoplasmic failure!" He threw them at King Boo, who proceeded to make himself intangible to avoid getting hit by it. Instead, the knives flew across and hit Jeff ; luckily, it hit his metallic arm, but it still hurt quite a bit.

Jeff turned his attention to Dr. Mario, not caring whether it was intentional or not. "How dare you strike me! Taste my vengeance, and receive your recompense!" He pulled down one of his sleeves and revealed his arm cannon. The cannon charged up and crackled with energy - however, due to the damage the knives did, it malfunctioned, causing it to fire a large energy shot at Pichu instead of his intended target. "Aaak! I'm sor-" Before he could get it out, he was struck by lightning.

"Hahaha!" Porky just laughed as things practically went to shit. "Yes, fight chumps! Fight! Hahaha-"

Then he was struck down from behind. Porky turned on his back and saw a smiling Lucas and Links standing above him, baseball bat and sword pointed at him. "Heeey, buddy." Lucas said menacingly.

"Aw crap. Ashley, a little help...?" He saw the girl sitting at the table, reading a book and trying to drown out the fighting that was starting to erupt around her.

"I bet your head would look nice on a pike." Link said.

"How about we put him on a pike alive...?" Lucas suggested with a scary, childlike curiosity. "Would he squirm if we do that?"

"Eh. We don't have a pike right now. We sure as hell cut his head off though... hahahah-"

"_ENOUGH!_" A shout came from the end of the table - Giygas was finally fed up. "_ALL OF YOU SIT THE FUCK DOWN - EXCEPT YOU!"_ He pointed at Link. Giygas' body dispersed a tendril of red mist that flew toward Link and solidifeid around Link's arm. Giygas then yanked Link over and glared directly at his eyes. "**_WHAT DID I JUST SAY?_**"

There were few things that scared Link: being next to a screaming, angry Giygas was one of them. "I...I..."

Giygas drew the sword at his side and drove it through Link's hip. Blood gushed from his wound. "There."

Link coughed up blood, but he tried to smile. "Ha.. ahahaha... that's... j-just a flesh wound..."

"Really now? Then you'll be happy to know that you're not allowed to fix the wound up until the meeting ends." Giygas said with a fake smile. He then grimaced. "Now take your fucking seat."

He dropped Link, who scrambled to find a chair to sit in; like King Boo, he chose to sit as far away from him as possible. Everyone else (other than Mewtwo, Ashley, and Tom Nook) also ran around, trying to find places to sit, anger at each other forgotten. Tom Nook briefly looked up from his papers and shook his head. "You all should learn to calm down."

"Er..." Roy's head was sticking out of the other Kirby portal. It seemed that he had came in just when Giygas started screaming. "Did I miss something...?"

"Doesn't matter. Now that you're here, we can finally begin." Mewtwo said.

"Well finally." Vaati groaned. "All of the tension is the room is starting to stress me out."

"Hi Roy! I'd offer to give you a cupcake but..." Ridley stopped to swallow. "They're all gone now."

"Forget about the cupcakes." Giygas said. He really wanted to get this started. I bet you readers want the meeting to start too, considering that we're almost 4000 words down and it hasn't started yet. "Just sit."

Roy took the last available seat, which was next to Link, who was fortunately not in the mood to kill him. Giygas stared at his lieutenants, satisfied that they were all here now, after everything's that happened. Mewtwo took out a notepad and a pen. "I'll write a transcript for the meeting, is that okay?"

"Yes, fine." Giygas drew his breath, ready to begin. "As we all know, it has been quite awhile since the last meeting. The dysfunctional relationships in this room is fairly obvious." When he said that, everyone took a moment to glare at someone they hated. He ignored this. "However, while this issue will be brought up later, that's not what I had to say first. Remember months ago, when we were hunting down the Dimensional Secrets? Remember the meddlesome trio of Pikachu, Fox, and Meta Knight? Quite a thorn in our sides..."

Murmurs of agreement went throughout the room. Pichu in particular was very vocal. "_I'll skin Pikachu alive and use his fur as a rug!_"

"They showed me that life was an awful thing..." Lucas murmured forlornly.

"Huh? Oh right. Those guys." King Boo said, scratching his head to recall what exactly they were talking about.

"Of course..." Giygas continued. "After our success at the center of the dimension, Meta Knight was left in a coma, and Fox and Pikachu were left in so much despair that they agreed to stand by while we conquered everything around them. However... Meta Knight woke up two days ago. That bothersome knight joined up with a rebellion in his home universe, and I don't know how, but Fox and Pikachu were convinced to stop being pacifists.

"While Porky, Link, and Roy were running an idiotic war..." The demon stopped to glare at the three aforementioned people, who gulped (and in Link's case, coughed up more blood). "...these three managed to free Pop Star from our rule. It literally happened while Roy's and Link's forces fought nearby, so let's give a round of applause for those two idiots."

Slow claps filled the room while those three fidgeted in their seats. Ridley however clapped really fast and loudly. "Yeah, you guys rock!"

"Sarcastic applause Ridley. It's supposed to be sarcastic."

"...Oh." Ridley slowed down the pace of his clapping to that of everyone else's.

"Anyway, thanks to the actions of those three, we are losing Pop Star - possibly the rest of the Kirby universe too. The inhabitants of Pop Star will be expecting a counterattack. While we could try reclaiming it, it would be very difficult. Not only will we have to worry about that, but we also have to watch for those three Smashers. If they ruined things once, rest assured, things will be ruined again."

"...Er..." Roy rose his hand. "S-Sorry to interrupt, but I have something to tell you."

"Fine, what is it? News of more disappointing failure?"

"Actually, no. I'm happy to say that Fox, Pikachu, and Meta Knight are dead!"

The room was quiet. Giygas stared at him. "...You... killed them?"

"Yeah, I did! I used a space cannon to burn the shit out of them!"

"Down to the last life?"

"It's designed to burn through hundreds of lives." Roy smiled and hugged himself. "It's such a great weapon... seeing all the things it burns is great..."

Mewtwo stopped writing a bit. He was astonished as everybody else. "Are you certain that they're dead?"

"Yep! Unless they had like, I don't know, a secret vehicle stashed somewhere, there was no way they could have gotten away in time. They're nothing but ash, scattering in the burning winds!"

Giygas continued to stare at him. Then... he laughed. He broke into a fit of laughing madness; he only laughed when he was truly pleased with something. "Hahahahaha! Amazing, you've actually killed them! HAHAHAHA! Other than GAG, no one else is left to bother us!" He made a sinister grin. "You're forgiven, Roy. Their deaths makes up for your mistakes. As for these two..."

"L-Look, I'm sorry boss!" Porky said, cowering in his throne-chair. "I'll make it up to you, just don't do something bad to me!"

"Too bad." Two portals opened up right behind Porky and Link, and it started to suck them into it. There was no point in trying to run from it. "As punishment for your mistakes... you two will be locked in a small room together for 24 hours."

It didn't sound bad, but Porky was scared of this. "What? No! That lunatic will strangle me!"

"Oh, don't worry. These portals are bringing you to a universe whose Universal Laws state that you have infinite lives." Giygas elaborated. He glanced at Link. "Besides, Link is in his death throes. He'd appreciate the help."

"Ha... thanks boss..." he leered at Porky as they were both sucked in to who knows where. The portals closed behind as the two left.

"...Sir, wouldn't locking them in a room make their problems worse since they would be... you know, killing each other repeatedly?" Mewtwo questioned.

"What I didn't mention is that they'll be stuck there for an extra hour each time one of them dies." Giygas stated, a smug look on his face.

"Really? Wow, I'm glad that I didn't end up with them!" Roy said, taking a breath of relief.

"Yes... that's one less irksome problem to be dealing with... now, for our second issue..." Giygas suddenly slammed his hands onto the table, which made everyone jump out of their seats. "All of you are the most dysfunctional people I've ever met!"

"I... what?" Ashley responded.

"The horrible dynamics between all of you are blatantly obvious. Such relations could lead to disaster: if Link and Porky weren't bickering idiots, they wouldn't be in so much shit right now." Giygas elaborated. "So, I intend for all of you to bond with each other, before something stupid happens again."

Complaints rose in the room.

"I don't want to be with... him!"

"He's stupid, and so are his glasses!"

"He's a fucking cannibal!"

"But most of these people sicken me!"

"_Enough._" The simple word got all of them to stop whining. Giygas breathed in a little again to relax. "After this meeting, you'll all stay here to bond with each other. You can do whatever you want with the room, I don't care. Just as long as all of you calm the hell down and make up with each other, so that it doesn't become a problem later on."

"Um, I can't do that." Jeff stammered. "I've got important business to be attending to in the F-Zero universe, and I really must check on it immediately after the meeting."

"...Fine."

"Hold on, wasn't that boy doing something important too?" Tom Nook questioned, referring to Porky.

"Yes. I'll just have Mewtwo take over his duties - they're basically the same, anyway."

Mewtwo nodded - best to keep on Giygas' good side. "No objections here."

"Perfect. Now then, back on the issue of the Kirby universe... I need at least two people to work with Roy to prevent us from losing the territory, while Link and Porky are locked away. Any volunteers?"

"Well..." Vaati leaned back in his chair. "I have nothing better to do, so I guess I can help him."

"...Hmm... maybe fighting people can give me experience too so..." Pichu's hand shot up. "I volunteer!"

"Good. Make sure we don't lose the Kirby universe - if we do lose it though, at least make sure it isn't a spectacular failure. Now then, I'll be leaving now. All of you better start acting friendly to each other. Jeff, Roy, Vaati, and Pichu are the only one's allowed to leave; however, I expect you three to work together and not try to dick each other over." Giygas said.

"I'm fine with these two." Vaati said with a yawn.

"Eh." Roy shrugged his shoulders.

"Whatever. Just as long as I can get experience from this..." Pichu said, twitching his eye.

"Right. I'm giving the rest of you five hours to spend with each other; if any of you start a fight during those five hours, you'll face the same punishment as Link and Porky. Same thing will happen if anyone tries to leave. Besides, it's for your own good." Giygas got off of his throne and started to leave. "Goodbye."

"Wait, shouldn't you stay here and bond too?" King Boo said.

Giygas made a small tilt of his head, allowing King Boo to see the anger and hate in the eye facing him. "Are you really in a position to be speaking back to me? Tell me, how are things in your universe?"

"Er... I'm... sorry...?"

"You better be." Giygas walked out of the meeting room and closed the door as he left, leaving his underlings to their own devices.

* * *

Deep down the palace, on the lowest basement floor, was a prison. Notable prisoners from various universes were taken and brought there. The energies that formed Subspace did not reach down there, so there was no available way for anyone to escape.

Mewtwo floated through the complex, looking at the cells and the people inside. Most people jeered at him as he passed, while the rest stayed secluded in the back of their cells, having lost all hope. Finally, Mewtwo reached his destination - a maximum security cell made out of steel. He knocked on the secure door. "This is Mewtwo. I'm letting you out for a bit. You need to do something for us."

"Another stupid chore?"

"Hey. You'll get food if you take the offer. You'd be an idiot not to do this."

"...Fine..."

Mewtwo used his psychic powers on the door - there were no switches or controls to the cell, so only his psychic powers could manipulate the tumblers in the door. Clicking and whirling sounded within before the door slid open. "Come on out, Lombardi."

Falco Lombardi walked out. He wore a plain orange jumpsuit, and had an electric collar on his neck and handcuffs binding his arms together. Despite his condition, though, there was a look of defiance in his face. "I could hear your boss from all the way down here. Must be pretty pissed."

"Yeah. Now come on, don't force me to shock you."

"Alright, alright, sheesh..." The long-time prisoner started to follow the floating psychic out of the complex.

* * *

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

_Author's Note: I bet you all wondered where Falco was in all of this, considering that he was captured at the end of the last story - well here he is! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Chapters centering on the villains are as fun to write as the central trio. So, what will happen next? Will somebody else get thrown in a room during their happy bonding time? What will Falco do? Find out in the next chapter! Remember to leave reviews, because I appreciate them!_


	6. Chapter 5: An Ungrand Escape

_**Author's Note:** Ah yes, it's been a long time since the last update. Approximately 3 months ago, actually. The reason why the hiatus went for as long as it did was because I wanted to finish up The Normals and Diary of a Psychopath before I worked on anything else. Unfortunately, I clearly got distracted, considering that I wrote seven one-shots and started four different stories during that time (also I updated OFF so that counts I guess). Additionally, after some consulting with beta readers (major thanks to camisforcamera and Plasmatroopa), I chose to add more to the chapter; the result ended up being double the length of the original chapter. Yep. Hope it's worth it._

_As for those four stories, I had to cancel two of them: Luigi's Grand Adventure (Mario) and How to Cure a Bad Cartoon (Johnny Test). I'm already stretching myself with all these stories, so I decided to just cancel the first story; if I had put it on hiatus, who knows when I would have updated it, since I'm clearly terrible at keeping schedules. Also, you don't want to know the case with the second one. You really don't. I blame myself for the resulting fiasco._

_But hey, let's get this started! I apologize if this chapter is a bit filler-y. Rest assured, even if you do, the next chapter will have way more plot progress!_

* * *

_**Chapter 5:** An Ungrand Escape_

* * *

Falco Lombardi marched down the hallway, Mewtwo occasionally prodding him along if he slowed down. Low hanging lights illuminated the hallways of the jail, revealing other inmates. They looked at Falco with jealously, desperately wishing to be in the position he's in.

"Lombardi!" A scarred man with a tattoo saying 'Grado' on his shoulder ran up to the bars. "You realize that as soon as you stop being valuable yer dead, right?"

"Don't frighten my guest." Mewtwo said boldly. His eyes glowed and the man was suddenly thrown against the back wall of his cell.

"Arghh…" as if signing his will, he spit toward the Pokémon. "You don't scare me, cat! I have the might of Grado behind m-"

He was unceremoniously tossed into another wall, rendering him unconscious - at the very least. "That's enough out of you." Even though the man couldn't hear him, Mewtwo added, "Besides, your country isn't much of a force to reckon with." He turned to look at the other prisoners, some of whom were secluding themselves further in their cells, making themselves less threatening.

"F-Falco." a Waddle Dee inside one of the cells pleaded quietly. "Help, I… help. I am very. Very afraid. Help. Scared."

Falco shook his head. "Look buddy, I'd like to help, but…" he held out his handcuffed hands, a dead serious look on his face.

The Waddle Dee didn't seem to care. "Help me. Help me. Help m-" He was psychically thrown too, a comical "plop" noise accompanying his face slamming into a wall.

"That's enough." Mewtwo cleared his throat. "If anyone else bothers us on our way out, you'll all be sent to Stove Canyon." All clamour was immediately silenced. With that, the villain continued to lead Falco down the hall. "So… have you reconsidered our offer?"

"Yes." Falco answered. "I've changed from not joining you in a hundred years to not joining you in a thousand years." He grinned, but quickly lost it when Mewtwo stomped on his foot.

"Very amusing, Lombardi."

"True though."

Tired eyes, crazy eyes, and dead eyes watched as they reached the far end of the prison floor, where the lift was located. As they went inside, Mewtwo said, "You're a fool, for not taking this job." He closed the doors, keeping his questioning eyes on Falco. "Wouldn't you rather live in luxury than suffer down here?"

"I'd rather be anywhere else other than with you assholes."

Mewtwo sighed, hitting the button that started the lift. As they started to ascend, Mewtwo muttered, "If it were up to me, I would have executed you immediately, you know." He glared fiercely at his captive. "To think, I get shafted in the Brawl tournament while you stay - while yet another Fox clone joins the tournament."

"That's how life works, traitor."

It seemed that the Pokémon was trying to restrain himself from attacking Falco fatally. After he handled trying to keep his rage in check, Mewtwo continued on with his bribe attempts. "Look, the only reason that you're still alive is because the boss needs somebody who can command airships - so he needs an experienced pilot, since everybody else is a bunch of idiots, and Ridley's competence can only stretch so far. Also, we clearly haven't found anybody better yet; otherwise, you'd be lying in the dirt."

"…I know that? Why are you explaining this to me again?" Falco questioned with a furrowed eyebrow.

"It's for their benefit." Mewtwo said, pointing upwards.

It took Falco and I a few moments to realize that he was referring to you readers. Thank you for breaking the fourth wall that I've been carefully maintaining so far, jerkface.

"Is that really the best insult you can offer?"

…!

"You're a writer, I'm sure you can think of a creative insult."

…Get on with the story. …I know what you're going to say Mewtwo, and the answer is no. Don't reveal whatever expositional stuff you had left to talk about yet, I'm saving it for later.

"Oh fine."

With that, the slow elevator ride continued. While Mewtwo impatiently tapped his foot, Falco watched as gases flowed in through the elevator door crack - a purple gas and a red one. The purple one, the creative energies of Subspace floated inside, glowing like the hopes for escape inside of Falco's heart - then, the red gas, Giygas' power, covered up the purple one, diluting its effects and popping Falco's hopes like a balloon held by a sad child.

Falco frowned - Giygas' powers was the only thing keeping him from escaping. The conqueror covered the palace and the surrounding areas (in a 3 mile radius) with his gas, to make sure that nobody takes advantage of Subspace's power and tries to overthrow him.

The Pokémon stopped when the elevator dinged, signaling that they reached their destination. He motioned to Falco to follow him down the hallway. "Now, you're going to be serving at a dinner party the others and I are having." He paused. "It's so that we can bond."

"Do I care?"

"Probably not. However, if the opulence and food tempts you enough, you soon will." Mewtwo said. Falco looked around the halls, looking at the beauty and intricacy, which his captors use to show off to him how rich and powerful they are in an effort to get him to join.

All Falco wanted to do was spit on everything.

He was led to a room adjacent to one with a giant foreboding door. "Remember, you are being watched." He gestured toward a security camera on the ceiling. "If you make an escape attempt, steal a bit of food, anything… we will know." He unlocked Falco's handcuffs with his telekinetic powers. "Remember, if you ever feel like changing sides, we'll be here." And with that, he shoved Falco through the door.

As Falco forcibly entered the kitchen, he was assaulted by smells, such wonderful smells. Many varieties of delicious food was prepared, set on plates, while more was being cooked. The food was what tempted Falco the most - even though he was treated better than the other prisoners, he was still stuck with eating gruel. He salivated. He really wanted to pinch a bit of food, but he could see a security camera in the corner, looking at him and the electric collar that would be activated the moment he pulled anything. He glanced behind himself. Mewtwo was looking at him expectantly waiting for him to break. Falco gritted his teeth and walked ahead, resisting the delicacies.

He looked around at the other people in the kitchen; they consisted of: Primids, other prisoners with electric collars around their necks, or volunteers doing it out of their own free will (these people were likely insane). "You there!" A Toad shouted at him, pointing his finger accusingly. "Why do we exist?"

"I - I don't know…" Falco stammered, surprised by this sudden question.

"_Exactly._ Why do we exist, why do we bother existing, what's the point of us, what is…" the short person murmured psychotically before composing himself. "Are you a waiter?"

Falco shrugged. "I guess so."

"Good!" The Toad shoved a platter filled with miniature sandwiches appetizers (consisting of ham and cheese that made Falco cry) into his hands. "Serve these! …Try to figure out the meaning of existence while you're at it. I am very scared and confused, why do we breathe…"

Falco got away from him as quick as possible, going through a door that lead to the adjacent room.

The long conference table was split into several smaller tables, with elegant white tablecloths covering them. Falco narrowed his eyes at his enemies… who were standing around, uneasily talking to each other. He spotted most of Giygas' underlings there, but he also saw the underlings' underlings (Pig Masks, Boos, etc.) and a few of their friends - Falco could see Petey Piranha chugging down a bowl of fruit punch, to the cheers of several people.

Another waiter shoved him on the way into the room. Falco sighed and decided to do his job, walking around and offering the appetizers on his platter. While doing so, he looked around for a chance to escape; there were only two doors in plain sight, which were covered by cameras. He'd receive several volts for his trouble if he tried to run through the exit - he would have to find a different way to escape.

"...that Petey guy is so cool, don't you think?" A Pig Mask Colonel laughed from a chair, sipping from a glass full of wine. "Really, why can't we fire King Boo? The guy's useless!"

Tom Nook was sitting next to him, drinking from a fruit juice box. "Yes, I was wondering that myself. I heard that he has some deal going on with Giygas? I think?" He sipped the kiddy drink with a scary look on his face. "Yes, deals are good."

The Colonel scanned the room with his drunk eyes and spotted Falco. "Heeeey! Guess who's too drunk and lazy to get uuuup!" Falco rolled his eyes and walked over. "Oooh! Mini-sandwiches!" The Pig Mask stuffed several of them into his mouth, chewing on them greedily.

Tom Nook and Falco looked at him. The well-dressed raccoon tried to talk some sense into him. "You do realize that those sandwiches have toothpicks in them, rig-"

The Pig Mask promptly threw up a mixture of alcohol, lunch meat, toothpicks, and blood before falling over into it with a squeal.

"…Right." Tom Nook chose to ignore him to talk to Falco. "Aren't you that guy that Giygas wants?"

"Yeah." Falco groaned. "Look, I'm not interested…"

"Well, I may be on the villainous side, but you really should join. You're like an employee." Tom Nook explained. "You have the qualifications to join, but eventually, somebody with the same qualifications will muscle in, and you'll lose all value to us. I know business, and I insist that you should take the opportunity while you can."

"Yeah, there's no way I'm doing that."

"…You're very weird, you know that?"

The two watched the Pig Mask Colonel cry in his own mess before Falco asked something. "Were all these tables always here?"

"Hm? No, I don't think so. Giygas created a long table earlier, but we cut it up so that we could spread the tables around. Vaati suggested that it would look very 'hip' before he left."

With that seemingly innocuous comment, hope rose within Falco. While Giygas' power subdued the energy of Subspace, whenever he created something, he needed to part his power to allow the energy to flow free.

Sometimes, he failed to close up the power gap.

Falco looked around wildly, looking for a patch of free energy - he still needed to escape unseen, but there was a hope! He walked away from the pair of villains, under the guise of delivering more mini-sandwiches to everybody else. "Wait…" the soldier on the floor coughed. "Can you get me a towel?"

"That's not my job." the avian answered with indifference; the cameras saw him say that but didn't do anything about it, so the people monitoring Falco presumably agreed with him. Falco walked around the room, absent-mindedly offering appetizers to others, resisting the smells, looking for a way to escape. As he walked around, he caught some interesting tidbits from the dinner party guests.

"Somebody spotted Master Hand in my home universe! If I catch him and make Mr. Mewtwo proud, I'll get a huge promotion, just you wait and see!"

"…my king's latest plan failed. You should have seen how easily those heroes foiled our plan…"

"Yo, have any of you seen my keys? I dropped them… where the hell are they?"

"...the Shadow Bugs are good weapons. Jeff's been using them to.."

"Fucking GAG, those peace-loving clowns ruin everything…"

"I… I got into a fight with… Link once. Never do that. Do you enjoy living? Then don't challenge him."

"There's some serious stuff going on in the Kirby universe?"

The conversations suddenly veered toward that topic.

"Right right… some rebellion going on? I think?"

"Oh my, a rebellion?"

"Eh, we can totally take those losers!"

"I don't think so. Pop Star's already fallen…"

"I think that's why Porky and Link aren't here - they failed at handling the problem."

"I heard they got distracted by trying to beat the shit out of each other?"

"This is why we play video games instead of attacking each other, people!"

"Did you hear, though? About those three Smashers?"

"The Smashers?"

"Yes, that's right! Those Smashers got fried by Roy for helping the rebels out!"

"Yeah, Roy's our boy!"

"Tsk, tsk. This is what Pikachu, Meta Knight, and Fox get for going against us."

Falco's platter fell to the ground. "What!" Before he could press the random person for further information, a shock went through him, making him fall.

Somebody floated right up to him, without offering a hand to help him up - Mewtwo. "Get up and get a new plate of food." He whirled around and before he left, he said, "By the way, your friend Fox really is dead. Just letting you know."

Falco didn't have anything to say to that.

Surely, it was just a rumor.

...Right?

(...Please do not tell Falco the truth, readers. Let's keep him on his toes.)

He silently got up and walked back to the kitchen, as if in a daze. In his mind, he refused the possibility of Fox's death; sure, Fox was an idiot, but he definitely wouldn't let himself get killed.

"Oh, it's you again." the Toad from earlier greeted as he entered. "Have you thought about life?"

"..." he did not respond, wordlessly getting a platter of kabobs.

"Have you thought about your friends? Like, say that they die... their existence won't cease, instead, they continue to live on in your memory. Hmm. Existence and life is really really philosophical and cool, ain't it? Yeah. Cool. Super cool. Very co-"

Falco tripped him on the way out.

"...it was a shame that Roy didn't leave any bodies left." the bird overheard Dr. Mario as he re-entered the dining room; Falco had a strange feeling that he knew what he was talking about. "I've never dissected a being like Meta Knight before."

"That.. that's nice." a Fire Emblem type medic replied, a bit (okay a lot actually) disturbed.

The protagonistic prisoner rapidly walked among the party-goers, offering kabobs without even looking at them. All party talk was now focused on what was going on in Kirby's universe, which, while it sounds like a great thing, sometimes led to the topic of Fox and his friends - whom are definitely okay, as Falco kept reminding himself mentally.

While doing so, he was on the lookout for a rip in Giygas' power. The subject of Fox's assumed death added to his drive, as it would be another mystery and another answer to seek as soon as he escapes. There were no obvious rips in plain sight, however. Falco even went out of his way to make two circuits around the room, only to find no such thing. But, there were still some areas that he hadn't checked.

"Oh, whoops." He let his platter of food slip from his hands. "Dropped something." He crouched down to the floor, using the fallen food as an excuse to look - under the tables, to be specific. His eyes scanned the area. He saw spilled food that was unceremoniously pushed under a few tables, some throw up induced by alcohol (Falco briefly felt sorry for the poor saps that had to clean the place up), even a random guy that was taking a quick nap. Under one table, there was seemingly nothing, but, under closer inspection, he could see a patch of purple, hanging over the floor and under the table.

Jackpot.

After regathering his appetizers, he stood up and started to stroll towards that table, planning to drop the food again in front of the cameras and spectators. However, a tense feeling overtook him when he saw who was seated there.

King Boo, Ashley, and Lucas, the apparent loners of the party, were sitting there, not absorbed in the rapid discussion that filled the room. Falco couldn't simply crawl under the table with them there. It was a den of villainy - well, King Boo was harmless, but he would probably turn him in if he tried something to score some more respect.

Falco approached them with a friendly smile. "Hey, do you guys want some kabobs?"

The girl stared at him. "...You seem a bit too happy for a prisoner." After a few more seconds of staring, she recognized him. "Oh right, you're that fool who doesn't want to work with us. ...What is wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong. Now, do you want some damn appetizers or not?" Falco said, somewhat defensively. Ashley and Lucas took one each; King Boo took a whole bunch.

"Oh gosh, I love these things." King Boo stuffed them into his mouth, thankfully, without throwing up.

"...You're... you're not going to enjoy those things forever, you know..." Lucas murmured to him, while staring at Falco.

King Boo got a big frown on his face. "Hey, I keep telling you people, I'm not getting fired. Nope." he laughed nervously. "There's no way the boss wants me gone. Haha."

"He will when Falco replaces you~!" Falco shot him an annoyed look; since Lucas was a fellow Smasher and more friendlier than Link, he was often chosen to help convince Falco into joining them. "He's just so much cooler than you... then again, coolness is all relative, I mean, coolness is in the eye of the beholder or..." He stammered into nonsensical territory.

"Face it, King Boo." Ashley agreed with Lucas. "Unless you do something big, Giygas will be getting rid of you. Of course, all you do all day is mess up like a miserable sack of shit."

"T-take that back, you... girl!" King Boo insulted lamely.

Lucas took it as if it was a death threat. "If you insult Ashley again, I'll beat you up with my twig~. And use your crown as a ball."

The ghost gasped. "Not my crown! It's the only dignity I have left!"

"You're... more concerned about your crown? But... material objects don't matter... only the coldness of death matters..."

"Yes, that's nice." Falco interrupted.

"No it isn't." King Boo said.

Falco ignored him. "I'm actually wondering: why are you guys just sitting here?"

"We're not a sociable bunch. Too many people." Ashley answered, looking at Falco, trying to figure out where he's getting at.

"God, you guys are like those loner kids that always get picked last for things."

"...I sort of was..." the boy said, rubbing his shoulder.

"Ditto. I'm fine with it now, though. Everyone that has ever ridiculed me are now.. heh heh..." the girl giggled.

"I'm fine with this corner." the phantom said meekly. "All people ever do is insult me."

Falco sweated. He needed to find some way to get them all to leave. "...hey, what kind of joke is this?" He put on a pretend look of outrage. "What kind of party doesn't have music playing?" The three villains stared at him blankly.

"...That is a good point..." Ashley admitted; however, her blank stare quickly turned into that of suspicion. "But why do you care anyway?"

"Well... it ruins the party atmosphere, doesn't it?" the waiter offered nervously - the look on the girl's face clearly showed that she wasn't buying into this.

Luckily, Lucas, who had a few screws loose, seemed to. "...Music would be nice. I heard that there's a DJ attending... even though I'm just sitting here, it'd be nice to listen to something. Maybe I'll ask him about it."

Ashley looked at him disapprovingly. "We don't need music, Lucas."

"But... p-please?"

She looked at him for a few seconds before sighing, like a parent giving into a child's demands. "Very well then."

"Y-yay!" The boy stood up. "I-I'm going to ask him to play KK Slider songs!" With that, he ran off in search of said DJ.

The girl started to begrudgingly follow him; she turned around to give Falco one last suspicious look. "I don't know what you're planning, Lombardi, but whatever it is..." she looked in the direction Lucas ran off in. "...it's King Boo's problem."

The ghost king, who spent the entire time arranging a playlist of songs in his head, looked more than a bit displeased. "Why me?"

"Because you're expendable." she answered coldly before leaving to look for Lucas.

That eliminated Lucas and Ashley from the equation - although Ashley had her suspicions. All he had to do now was get King Boo out of there and hurry along before the other two came back. "Hey, don't you want to recommend music too? Like Lady Gaga or... whoever the hell you listen to?" Falco said.

"What's the point? It's not as if they'll respect me enough to do what I want..." King Boo groaned, slamming his head on the table. "I need to do something great. And soon." He looked toward the other side of the room, where certain giant flower-headed figure was. "Man, everyone even likes Petey more than me..."

Falco admitted that King Boo was rather pitiable at the moment. He is usually a cheerful doof, but here he was, a depressed ghoul that's coming to terms with his imminent doom. For a moment, he actually considered letting King Boo on his escape plan so they could escape together and save the specter from Giygas' wrath.

However, something told him that King Boo would likely turn him in - anything to garner respect. So, Falco semi-regretfully continued with his plan. "You know what will cheer you up? Beating up Petey! I mean, if you're stronger than him, it means that you're better than him, right?"

He quickly realized how stupid that sounded. Fortunately, King Boo was an unsuspecting idiot. "Yeah... I can take him!" He paused. "But.. I need food to energize me. A king can't fight on an empty stomach! ...Hold on, are kings supposed to fight?"

"Sure they do!" He looked down at his platter, which was now devoid of food. "Okay, as soon as I get your snacks, go kick Petey's ass!"

"I will!"

Falco started to head back to the kitchen. As he did so, he heard a mass argument that arose in the middle of the room - various people were aggressively suggesting music. An anthropomorphic dog DJ (either from Falco's universe or Ashley's; or maybe some distant cousin of KK Slider) stood on top of a table, screaming, "This is why we didn't have music, with all your bickering and stuff! Please shut up!"

Once again, there to greet him was the existential Toad. "...Today is a nice day, isn't it? Nobody's died yet. As far as I know."

"That is a good thing." Falco answered half-truthfully as he set up a plate of nachos.

"...We should be grateful for the kitchen that was set up here..." he droned. "It's great that it was created. We don't need to run between floors to bring food - now our legs will never desert us. Isn't it great?"

The avian dropped his food. "What?"

"I said our legs will never escape us again." the Toad looked down at his legs. "I need these stubby things to get around, ya know."

"Not that, you idiot. Before that."

"This kitchen was created to be a convenience to everyone and our sweet legs."

Falco's heart beat with anticipation. Was his escape lying in the grandiose kitchen he was scurrying back and forth from the entire time? It dawned on him - all the shenanigans for the past thousand words was a complete waste of time then. Hopefully, they would stay just a waste of time and won't come back to bite him in the butt.

He left the mess he dropped (much to the annoyance of the kitchen's janitors) and started to walk around the kitchen. As he darted around other waiters, waitresses, and cooks, he continuously glanced at a few security cameras - if he was going to search the kitchen, he needed to remain inconspicuous. "Don't mind me, I'm looking for the champagne."

"That's nice. Watch your legs!" the Toad called.

Like a mouse, he scoured around every corner of the room, while pretending to look at food and platters (thankfully, there was no champagne, which gave him an excuse for scurrying around so much). There were only bits of red clouding the air, even in the pantry. Which left...

"Maybe there's some champagne in the freezer room." he said, loud enough for passer-bys and the nearest camera to hear. He approached a large steel door and with an air of confidence, he pushed the door open and went inside.

The cold metal room was full of crates, with frozen food waiting to be cooked. The air was less dense with Giygas' essence.

So it wasn't surprising that there was a patch of purple energy, unaffected by the surroundings.

Falco quickly looked around the freezer room - there were no cameras.

With that, he started to walk toward the energy, hope rising inside him.

He thought he was actually smiling.

The world around him was silenced, as if hushed by a motherly goddess.

He reached his hand toward it as thoughts rapidly filled his head.

Where should he go? To his home universe? Mario's universe? After all, that place was a safe bet, considering the incompetence of King Boo. Maybe he could go to the Kirby universe - after all, he needed to see if there was any truth to Fox and friends presumed deaths.

Wait a moment.

It was actually quiet outside. That rambling from earlier was not actually a poetic simile - he could no longer hear the bustling of the kitchen staff.

He heard the door behind him creak open.

Then he heard a beep from his collar.

"Shit."

A quick pain went through his body, forcing a scream out of him, as the electric shock kicked in. Falco fell onto the floor, gasping while the smell of singed feathers filled his nostrils.

Mewtwo pushed his way inside, holding a remote control in his hands; Falco could see some of the kitchen staff through the door, watching in fright and pity. The Pokémon, without turning, commanded, "Get back to work." The cooks went back to cooking and the wait staff profoundly apologized before going back to serve the party guests. Mewtwo then closed the door, so he could have a private conversation. "Tsk. Looks like you failed to escape again, Falco."

The avian weakly reached toward the energy of Subspace. He was answered by another quick current of electricity, making him convulse. Reeling back from the pain, he asked, "H..how did you know?"

"I've been watching you, Falco. Did you really think I wouldn't suspect you of trying to escape? Again?" Mewtwo casually sat down on a crate of Pokeblocks, playing with the remote in his hands. "There's a huge argument about music going on right now - started when Lucas tried to request something to be played to me - which happened right after you talked to him.

"Plus, it seemed that you were hellbent on trying to get everyone away from that specific table. I took one look, and guess what I found?" he paused. "Did you know that King Boo tried to fight his friend, Petey? Apparently, he was convinced to do so by you; it hardly matters though, since that incompetent twit is spending some time locked in a room - don't ask why. The reasons behind it is very stupid."

"...That... I was so damn close.."

"That you were. But you know what? If you haven't wasted all that time earlier and increased my suspicions, and just came to this room, you would have won." Mewtwo sneered. "This just further proves in my eyes that you don't deserve to live. The fact that filler of all things stopped you truly shows it."

Oh ha ha.

He continued on. "I wish I could execute you... it would be so simple to keep my finger on this button... and have an undeserving clone's life snuffed..." then his angry expression turned to that of disappointment. "Unfortunately, Giygas still wants you to live, you ungrateful shit. You're being given all these opportunities, but you keep rejecting us and..."

"I will never join you, how many times do I have to tell you that?" an ever defiant Falco said. He tried to reach toward the energy yet again.

Then he heard a beep - not from his collar, though.

Mewtwo answered a walkie-talkie. "Yes...? Oh, I'll bring him right away." He grinned and put it away. "Giygas wants to speak to you."

Falco, widening his eyes, shot his arm through the energy and a light started to form at his fingertips. A hole expanded into existence.

Mewtwo however was calm about it. "Now... let's make sure you won't be conscious to make things difficult."

Before Falco could crawl into the portal he created, a more powerful shock circulated through his body, making his heart seize while he convulsed, the light he created slipping away while he fell into the dark unconsciousness.

* * *

"...I really don't see why we can't just brainwash him, or break his mind, sir."

"Mewtwo, I need Falco to keep his sanity. It wouldn't do us much good if we had another Link on our hands. As efficient as he is, his bloodlust keeps getting in the way..." a deep voice said. "Plus, you've seen Lucas. He's too dependent on Ashley and has to ask her permission to do things. I want somebody capable of making their own damn decisions."

Falco groaned as he started to stir.

They didn't appear to have noticed him. "Why don't we just use... the bugs?"

"They are unpredictable... which of course makes them good torture devices..."

Falco groaned again and he opened his eyes.

He was in an unknown place (to you readers, anyway) that was made up of rock and was very hot. The room was filled with red gas - which was unsurprising, because not only was Mewtwo there, but Giygas himself was there, in his Giegue form. Giygas looked at him, with a mocking smile on his face. "Ah, so he finally awakens." He turned to address Mewtwo. "You may go back to the party, Mewtwo."

"To be honest sir, I'd rather go do my work." the Pokémon answered.

"Really? You don't wish to bond with the others?"

"Hmm. I wouldn't mind, but there's some sort of argument going on about music, thanks to a certain someone." Mewtwo glared at you-know-who. "I really don't want to hear about which song or band is the best. Those arguments get crazy. Besides, looking for _him_, as tedious as it is, isn't as torturous."

"Fine, you may leave." Falco watched as Mewtwo left through a portal and disappeared, leaving him alone with Giygas. "Falco, why must you be so resistant? I only wish for a commander. Instead, you just keep causing trouble, like a stupid brat."

Falco did not answer, instead, looking around. The room did not have any entrance other than the now-gone portal. There was a grate on the wall near the ceiling, however, it was so thin that only a gas could seep through it. A camera in the corner watched them intently.

Giygas was infuriated by the lack of response. "Tsk! You disrespectful fool! Do you not know who you're talking to? I'm the to-be ruler of this entire dimension! You should be grateful that I'm talking to a stupid hero like you; in fact, you should be grateful that you're still even alive! Speak! Answer me!"

Falco coughed on the red gas that made up the abomination. "Have you considered taking a shower?"

Giygas barred his teeth, but he tried to keep himself composed. "You have quite the nerve... however, I won't deal with you. I'll let your 'punishment' do the job." He smiled. "It's just your usual, light punishment. Not horrible enough to drive you into insanity but torturous enough to remind you who you're dealing with."

Falco grinned defiantly. "Heh. It won't scare me." Even though what was going to happen was torturous, there was still one tiny bright spot in it...

"I know. I've seen the footage." Giygas was still smiling. "Even if you somehow break through without the camera seeing you, there's nowhere to run to. Now, I must be attending to something..." the Giegue avatar melted and was absorbed into the gas particles. The red mist floated up and went through the grate - Falco did not know what was behind the wall.

Falco stood up and looked at himself. He felt the electric collar, still holding his neck and flaunting the feathers near the neck that it burnt. However, Falco didn't seem to mind. Another chance to escape was available - it was just way, way, less likely to succeed. He stared up at the camera and shouted, "Bring it on!"

Then, as he said that, another gas flowed in through the vents - the purple energy of Subspace. The very thing he was looking for earlier was flooding the room.

However, Falco gulped, bracing himself for what was to come.

Like a volatile gas, it started to react to the air. The energy rippled unstably. The pieces of gas went through sublimation, turning into solids. The energy lost its brightness, instead, turning into dark orbs. Then, the dark bits started to move, as if they developed sentience. They scurried across the floor toward Falco, an air of malevolence surrounding them.

The energy of Subspace had transformed into Shadow Bugs.

Falco tried to stay calm as they advanced on him. A plan started to form in his mind, however, it involved letting the Shadow Bugs touch him. He watched as the bugs latched onto his shoe. That's when the Shadow Bugs' power came into play.

He suddenly found himself falling down - the material of his shoe had suddenly become metal. The power of the Shadow Bugs was different from that of their base component; instead of creating, they influenced.

To his misfortune, he fell right into the horde of bugs, which was likely not how he wanted this to go out. He screamed involuntarily as they started to latch onto him. He felt unidentifiable pains around his body, as the bugs changed the composition and form of his bodies. Some of the Shadow Bugs, having copied his DNA, crawled onto his chest and they morphed into miniature Falco heads, with glowing yellow eyes staring at him. They started to bash their tiny heads against him, mindlessly attacking him, like the clones that the Shadow Bugs made during the Subspace Emissary incident.

Note that this was apparently the "light" punishment.

"G-get off of me, damn it!" Falco said, making sure that none of the Shadow Bugs crawled into his mouth. He stood up and looked at himself. The little critters were crawling all over him, his jumpsuit different colors and materials in various spots - of course, his collar was untouched by them. He glanced at the camera - he hoped that whoever was watching the security monitors was preoccupied with something else.

He scooped up a handful of Shadow Bugs that was on his shoulder and smashed them against the wall. He tried to use their power on the stone wall - it turned into a lighter color. He picked up another bunch of Shadow Bugs that was crawling on his knees (that turned the material of the jumpsuit into hot rubber; the avian tried to resist the burning pain) and smashed it again. A different color, this time.

The camera was still trained on him, but it didn't seem to notice what he was doing. Falco took advantage of this and continued throwing Shadow Bugs against the wall, killing them while trying to remake the material of the wall.

He kept throwing.

And throwing.

And throwing...

...until there was a huge spot on the wall - made of wood. Sturdy wood, but he could try to smash it.

He pulled back his fist.

Then, something caught it.

Falco turned around.

There was a mass of Shadow Bugs standing behind him, a deformed hand holding his fist. Then, shapes began to form. The hand became blue and covered in feathers and a beak started to poke out of where the head was. Eventually, the Shadow Bugs disappeared, molded into a shadow clone of Falco.

The False Falco looked at him, with piercing yellow eyes.

The real Falco looked back, with a bit of worry in his expression.

Then the fighting began.

* * *

Mewtwo was in his office, looking at the screens again; there were now twice as many screens, the new ones showing the areas that was under Porky's jurisdiction. Downstairs, he heard shouting and music, which constantly switched to different songs. "Ignore the peanut gallery..." he assured himself.

The Pokémon heard a thump behind him.

He looked to see that it was the large, somewhat humanoid, Piranha Plant, Petey Piranha. Mewtwo remembered watching the plant get spirited away with King Boo when he punched him on the advice of Falco. The red mist in the large room immediately reacted to the punch; Giygas was serious about there being no fighting.

Petey made a discouraged noise.

"...Excuse me?" Mewtwo said. He briefly glanced back at his monitors. Still, no sign of his target. "Where's King Boo?"

Petey released a sad noise and then tried to imitate Giygas' horrific face.

Mewtwo understood. Giygas was dealing with King Boo.

* * *

The two Falcos were engaged in hand-to-hand combat. If the security guy was not going to deal with Falco, his clone would. The Fake Falco launched a fist into Falco's face, knocking him to the ground. He grinned evilly, getting on top of the real Falco's stomach, prepared to beat him relentlessly.

"...Y-you're not me..." Falco said to his shadow. With swiftness, he knocked him off and stood up. "I don't hold people down and beat the shit out of them - only cowards and sore losers fight like that!"

His clone let out a hiss and lunged at him.

"Take this!" as if punting a ball, he kicked the Fake Falco, with enough strength to knock him into the ceiling. As the pained Shadow Bug clone descended, Falco punched him, throwing him against the wall. Falco was impressed by himself - despite the torture he went through earlier, he was fighting well. "Heh. I still got it."

The clone was not amused. He ran up toward Falco and unleashed a flurry of kicks. Falco slid back, coughing up a bit of blood. Smiling sadistically, the clone tried to kick him in the side.

However, Falco caught his foot.

"Y-you're pretty st-stupid, you know?" then, the Smasher roared and spun, picking his clone off the floor. "More p-proof that you're not me!" He spun him around slowly, gradually spinning faster.

Then, Mario 64 style, Falco threw his clone right through the wooden part of the wall.

The Shadow Bug clone burst through the other side of the wall. It landed on the floor painfully and it started to lose its form. The Shadow Bugs dissolved, the pain too much to take, and soon, there was nothing there.

Falco stepped through the hole and looked at the camera again. There seemed to be no response to what Falco was doing.

He cautiously walked around. The place was as rocky and hot as his cell. Speaking of cells, he heard noises from behind some walls - usually screaming. Of course, there was no entrance into any of these cells.

After a bit more walking, it became evident to Falco that there was no entrance into wherever he was either. There was not a single door in the area. No openings. Just really thin vents to allow stuffy air through, as well as gas and Shadow Bugs. He then happened upon a bulletin board:

**STOVE CANYON PRISON**

**"You're here forever!"**

**To: Guards:**

**Bring whatever food and drink you can before starting your shift. The portals are the only way in and out of the prison, and, of course, you can't come back to Subspace. Shifts end after 30 minutes; another portal from Subspace will open up and the next batch of guards will arrive. Security room shifts ends in the same time period. Do not break through any of the cells to let prisoners out - instead, request portals to be put in their cells to transfer them elsewhere. If you do the former, you will be convicted of treason. You will be executed via stream of lava outside. Your friends will be forced to throw you through the stream, and you will gain horrible burns. You will likely die from landing in a pool of lava afterwards.**

**Other than that, this is a very cushy job. Have fun.**

There are clearly guards here, so where were the guards? Falco set off to look after them; since there was no way to leave the place other than by portal, he hoped to follow them when their shift ends. Then, he found them, crowded in front of a wall. The guards were all made up of Gooms, wielding spears; some of them looked a bit crazed, while the rest seemed sane and willing to work. However, all were transfixed by sounds coming from the other side of the wall. The fact that Falco wasn't electrocuted yet meant that the person in charge of security was also likely distracted. What was going on?

* * *

King Boo was backed up in the corner of the cell Giygas brought him to. Of course, he could always phase out of the prison; however, he realized that this would only serve to piss his boss off more. Unfortunately, this meant that he had to stay with Giygas in the red gas filled room. By the time Falco arrived, Giygas was already chewing King Boo out and lecturing him.

"...King Boo, do you understand what it takes to run an empire?"

"Uh..." for a second, the ghost king thought he could see another emotion in Giygas' angry eyes - stress, perhaps?

"No, of course you don't. You're an idiot."

"...r-right..."

"Look, while it was easy - perhaps even fun, for some of us - taking over Subspace, trying to take over and rule this dimension is another thing." He started to pace around the room, while keeping his eyes trained on King Boo. "Cruelty is needed to keep people in line. We need to remind the citizenry of the dimension that we're a force to be reckoned with. To be respected. To be obeyed. We need to bring every person under our banner; through diplomacy, force, bribery, hell, anything goes. Every world must come under our power and weakness won't help with that."

Giygas walked up to the listening ghost, who flinched as he came near. "D-don't hurt me!"

The overlord grinned malevolently.

Then.

He took the crown off of the king's head.

Giygas went back to pacing around the room, tossing the crown up and down in the air, continuing his spiel. "However, admittedly, being too cruel, is, regretfully, obstructive to our agenda. If we piss off too many people, there will be uprisings everywhere that cannot be contained. Some kindness is required; we must provide bread and circuses to the people. Do you understand?"

King Boo nodded. Although he understood, he had no idea where this conversation was going.

"Now, Porky fully understands this - it's a shame that he's too foolish." he stopped walking, but he continued tossing the crown, making sure its owner was watching it. "Porky introduced the ways of the modern world to Tazmily and captivated most of its inhabitants. They lost themselves in Porky's new world, but they were satisfied with their pathetic lives. This only left a few people to oppose him, people that can easily be subjugated, and their uprising wouldn't matter." He sighed. "Unfortunately, said opposition had PSI powers, which certainly changed things... damn PSI users, always ruining things... and the power of love as well..."

King Boo coughed. "Er... weren't you technically stopped by prayer when you fought Ness and his friends?"

Giygas shot him a fierce look.

The ghost gulped.

Although he seemed angrier, Giygas continued. "Power is required to rule, but you need to act reasonably to your subjects. It's so hard to find a common ground... especially when you're ruling a dimension spanning empire... ha..."

"...Is... something wrong, boss?"

"Shut up." Giygas snapped. "Nothing is wrong. Keeping things under control is an easily obtainable goal - it's just that you damn fools keep messing up." he dropped the crown on the floor. "Porky, Roy, and Link truly messed up this time. Plunging their universe into a civil war against each other just made its inhabitants more restless, giving more of them a reason to rebel. It's amazing how such a fuck-up can send everything spiraling into disaster."

He brought up his foot and stomped on the crown - a part of it bended inward.

"I... my solid gold crown! Why would you do... how are you even doing tha-"

"You really don't know how to shut up, do you?" he stomped on it again. "Ineffective, disobedient... you're completely useless. Your friend Petey, would do a much better job than you. Even if he can't speak, he's much more ferocious than you are." Stomp.

"P-petey isn't my friend! He's just my partner in sports games and go-kart raci-"

Giygas glared, shutting him up. Then, an arm formed in the red gas that filled the room and reached out toward King Boo. The ghost yelped as the arm constricted around him, squeezing him painfully; conveniently, the hand rested over his mouth.

"That's better." the threatening creature said, while giving the crown beneath him a kick. "Now then, the point is, there needs to be a balance between cruelty and kindness; if anyone here goes extreme with one side, it could rip our control away. Porky, Roy, and Link are cruel idiots. You, on the other hand, are on the other end of the spectrum. You're too soft. Too soft and idiotic, in fact. Your own soldiers want to dessert you, because you're just so damn inefficient and embarrassing... you know... it'd be so easy to kill you right now."

He lifted the hand away from King Boo's mouth to hear his response. "But... what about the deal?"

"Ah yes. That's what I wanted to talk about next." he slowly crushed King Boo's crown with his foot. "Something tells me you need a little incentive. To keep you from being so rash and disobedient. So, instead of two months, you have one. One month to get something done. One month to get some progress on your own universe."

"Y-you can't just lower it!"

"Yes I can. You're a minor ruler in this empire. You are useless, stupid, lazy... you even disobeyed my instructions to listen to a man who hates us and has made several escape attempts in the past. You are gullible, to believe such a flimsy lie."

"Lucas believed Falco too!"

"Yes, but the boy is insane. He's relying on a girl that abused him viciously in the past as an emotional crutch, for instance; speaking of whom, she'll be dealing with his punishment. Falco is currently undergoing a punishment as well; however, his courage against this has certainly bought him more interest from me. It's truly amazing that I prefer him over you, isn't it?" He kicked King Boo's crown - now an unrecognizable mass of gold - into a corner.

"...Y-you need me though..."

"For what?""

"...Comic relief?"

"...Ridley is also a comic relief character in this wretched story; he is also much more competent than you'll ever be. Now go on, give me another stupid reason that proves your worth."

"..." King Boo was at a loss for words.

"Come on! Tell me! Give me a reason why I shouldn't execute you in a month's time, when you inevitably fail!"

"..." the ghost was terrified. Despite this, Giygas continued to shout...

* * *

The Gooms were amused by Giygas' yelling. Falco on the other hand felt very sympathetic toward the ghoul - in fact, he felt pretty shitty for tricking him and getting him involved like this.

Still though, as much as the guilt was eating him up, he still needed to focus on his own escape...

* * *

Inside a separate room in the facility, filled with screens and air conditioning, was a Dangerous Duck. Former member of Captain Syrup's crew, he was chosen to monitor the security camera views. Constant vigilance was needed for the job.

At the moment, he was lying back in his chair, watching the scene going on in King Boo's cell while blogging about it on various social media sites. This was easily one of the most interesting things he's seen in a long time - well, there were the fights Link and Porky were having a few hours ago, but that got boring really quickly. One can only take so much one-sided stabbings.

Besides, it's not as if something would happen to the other prisoners. Even the ones that try to escape their fates using the Shadow Bugs were sure to be curbstomped by their own clones. It's not as if someone would be strong enough to fight them off, ha! Dangerous Duck finds such notions absurd!

A few minutes later, Giygas ended his tirade - King Boo was now curled up in the corner of his room, crying. The duck watched as he turned into his gaseous state and emerged into the hallway. "...what are you idiots doing here? Get back to work!" Dangerous Duck watched as his fellow guards scrambled to go on their patrols.

It was only then that he decided to go back to his job. He ran his eyes over the screens. Hmm-hmm. Some prisoners getting tortured by cruel punishments, nothing new. Link and Porky had stopped fighting, sitting cross-legged across from each other, uneasily talking to each other and wondering when they'll be getting out. Hmm, that cell is empty. As is that one but...

The Dangerous Duck saw that the wall was broken. "...This is not good! Quack!"

He ran his eyes around the hallway screens, trying to look for the missing prisoner. He must be somewhere. There's nowhere for him to go. But then, he heard a frustrated scream. His boss had found the broken cell. "What the hell is this?"

The Dangerous Duck was horrified by the situation. He would get demoted! Or killed. Yeah, the latter was more likely. He started to look around the room for a remote control - the one that would electrocute the running man. But then, he got distracted by a beeping noise - alas! The alarm that announced the end of the shift! Maybe if his replacement got here quick enough, he would take the blame for this! Yeah, hopefully!

* * *

The Gooms were headed to a designated hallway (where the portal would spawn) when they heard their boss' furious shout. "What the hell is this? Where is Falco Lombardi?"

"...A-a prisoner actually... escaped?" a Goom said in awe.

"He can't have. Can't have." another Goom said quietly, tightly gripping his spear. "There is no way out aside from. The portals. Our portals."

"Where could he be, though?" a fellow guard said.

That's when the air in front of them began to distort, a portal appearing before them. They could escape to one of the other guard houses in Subspace, which was used as a midway to swap guards for prisons all over the dimension. Maybe, they could even try to escape to another universe, if they're knowledgeable enough on one. Either way, Giygas was pissed, the prisoner apparently disappeared, and they really needed to get the hell out of there.

Then, they heard a clunk.

Falco fell down from the ceiling, involuntarily. He looked at the shoe turned to metal by the Shadow Bugs, accusingly. "Damn shoe, dragging me down." He looked up and saw the Gooms staring at him. "...So, hey."

"...Get him!" one of the guards shrieked. That guard tried to shove his spear toward Falco.

The bird sidestepped it and grabbed it. "Sorry!" he pried the spear out of his hands and smacked the guy with the wooden end of the spear. He forced his way through the group of guards as the portal opened up, hitting them with the wooden part of his weapon. As he did so, he felt somebody stab him in his side, creating a gash of blood. He just covered it up with his arm to keep his blood in and kept running.

The portal opened revealing the inside of a building in Subspace (resembling a break room of an office building). The guards on the other side widened their eyes in surprise as Falco pushed through; they were too surprised to do anything about it. "Out of our way!" the guards of Stove Canyon shouted in desperation. "Get him, or Giygas will have our heads!"

One of them threw a spear toward Falco, catching him on the shoulder and cutting it. However, Falco did not stop running. He refused to let himself fail again. He ran out of the guard house and outside. There was no red gas outside. It was a free expanse of energy. In the distance, the Smasher could see the palace, surrounded by ominous red mist - Good riddance, he thought. With a dramatic flair, Falco turned to face the surge of Gooms running toward him and said, "So long, suckers!"

Then, an electric shock started coursing through his body.

Falco fell on the floor, gasping. Nope. No. He wasn't going to get caught. This would have made this entire chapter pointless, other than the whole King Boo thing. In retrospect, a lot of the chapter was filler. Well, his shenanigans at the party earlier did end up resulting in a distraction for Stove Canyon's guards, but that's just my stupid opinion. Wow, I am full of shit.

Using the last of his strength, Falco placed his hands on the ground, wishing for a safe place to hide.

The Gooms at the front of the pack threw their spears.

Then, a hole of light appeared right under Falco as he twitched from the electrocution.

He fell in right as the storm of spears hit.

The guards all stopped.

He escaped.

Through the still open portal between the prison and the guard house, they could all see, at the end of a stone corridor, was a mass of red anger.

"...Well, it's been a pleasure serving with all of you." one Goom said, accepting his fate.

"I blame Dangerous Duck."

"What an asshole."

"Wait, we could create our own portals and escape!"

"How many of you actually know a place to hide other than our own homes?"

"..."

"...Has any of you read a book on a place? A brochure? If we know enough about a place, we could create a portal there!"

"Oh, I know of a place! Just let me-"

* * *

Mewtwo looked excited when he emerged into Stove Canyon - he had some very important information. However, his excitement turned into curiosity when he noticed that the entire place was quiet, aside from noises from the prisoners. He floated around a bit until he found Giygas, looking at Falco's broken cell, with a blank expression. "What happened?"

"...Falco escaped." he replied. Mewtwo looked surprised. "That infuriating..."

The Pokémon looked around. "Where are the guards? Didn't they try to stop him? Didn't the next shift start already?"

"They're all gone." he said quietly. "All of them."

Mewtwo decided not to pry any further into the issue.

"Tomorrow, have new mercenaries hired. Appoint the smartest and most attentive of all of them to watch the security monitors."

"...Understood..."

"Also... if there's any sign of Falco... recapture him. As annoying as it is, I admit that what he's done is impressive." Giygas said. "However... you are allowed to use any force necessary. Bleed him dry, break some limbs, outright cripple him, it doesn't matter, as long as he's alive. Besides, I'm sure Dr. Mario will be happy to give him some new limbs... a little beating is sure to get rid of his cocky attitude..."

Mewtwo seemed a bit excited about this. Even if it's a positive thing, being put under the care of Dr. Mario is a rather bad thing. "Understood."

"Now... why are you here, Mewtwo?"

"I have some valuable information." he pulled out a paper, with a printed picture on it. Giygas looked at it, and although pleased, he did not smile.

"...Perhaps there is a bright spot in this wretched day." Giygas muttered. It's just been frustration after frustration after the three pains practically helped start a revolution on Pop Star - thank Miyamoto that they were dead. (If any of you guys tell the bad guys that they're alive, we won't be friends.) "Have whoever we have at the moment track _him_ down."

"Mmh hmm." he nodded. "What about Link and Porky?"

"They still have to fulfill their punishment. Judging by the number of times they killed each other, those two idiots will be staying there for 27 hours."

"And King Boo?"

"He's too terrified of me to leave his cell. Good thing. It'll give that imbecile some time to think of a good plan." he took the picture out of Mewtwo's hands and crumpled it. "Hopefully, he'll get something done within a month, otherwise..."

"You'll kill him?"

"Yes. In the slowest and most painful way possible. It doesn't matter if he's a ghost - I know a few methods that will outright erase his sorry existence."

Mewtwo couldn't fathom what methods are they and who, of all people, Giygas learned them from.

* * *

A lone figure wandered in the wasteland, gathering food.

Then, he saw him. The figure walked up to him.

Falco Lombardi was barely conscious, a spear protruding from his back.

The unknown person gently picked him up and started to bring him home.

* * *

**_To be continued..._**

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Hmm... this chapter is almost as long as the last chapter of the previous story. I wonder how long the later chapters will be, as well as the finale._

_Well, if you find yourself disappointed with this chapter, rest assured, we'll be going back to the main trio in the next chapter! So, who is Giygas looking for? Where is Falco now, and who found him? Where will our main heroes be heading? Will it take me less than 3 months to write and publish the next chapter? Find out, in the next, hopefully exciting episo- chapter of The War Against Giygas!_


	7. Chapter 6: Convenience Stores in Space

_**Author's Note:** This chapter isn't as long as the last three ones, as it's simply around to bridge the story to the next arc. What is it about? Oh, you'll see! Thanks again to FanFiction member and tumblr user camisforcamera for looking over this chapter. If you want to, follow her tumblr (with the same username) because she's pretty rad. Also mine too. Welp, that's enough tumblr promoting for today. Let's get on with it!_

* * *

_**Chapter 6:** Convenience Stores in Space_

* * *

Space. A massive void that is practically limitless. Stars were dotted around the darkness, the lights being numerous in the Kirby universe. There was the occasional bit of space debris, a meteor, a bit of space debris that looked like a spaceship, a... oh, hang on. That isn't space junk that looks like a spaceship - it was a spaceship made out of junk. Oh sorry, my mistake. Truly, I am a shitty narrator.

Inside of the ship was our heroic trio: Fox, the idiot ace pilot, Meta Knight, the reasonable authority figure, and Pikachu, the sometimes unreasonable jerk with a heart of hold. Fox was at the very front, manning the controls as he flew the junk Arwing that he built himself. "It feels so great to be flying again!" he laughed.

Pikachu smiled at him. It was nice to see that he was truly happy. "Just try not to crash this thing, okay?"

Meta Knight was in the very back, resting. "How long have we been flying, already?"

Fox looked back at them, unintentionally frightening them - his eyes were bloodshot red. "Almost a full day. Why?"

"...You... need to get some rest." an unsettled Meta Knight said. "Look, allow me to take the controls..."

"But... but..." the pilot made a really sad face.

"F-Fox, please don't give me those sad eyes. You could endanger our lives."

"...Okay..." he unbuckled his seatbelt and climbed over them into the farthest seat. "I'm not tired tho-" then he promptly fell asleep.

Unfortunately, he fell asleep on top of Meta Knight. The puffball squeezed his way out from below Fox, clambered over Pikachu and got behind the pilot's seat. However, once there, Meta Knight immediately spotted what Fox's tired eyes could not see. "Fox... your Arwing is running out of power."

Fox just snored.

Pikachu violently shook him awake.

"Huh, what?" he said groggily. "...Oh yeah... um... I have no idea what Warp Stars run on and I used a Warp Star engine and... um... it's running on gasoline and I think this eats it up very fast and..."

He went back to sleep.

"...Well, I hope we actually get anywhere before we run out of power and get stranded in the middle of..." Pikachu heard a rumbling noise. "... nowhere..."

Up ahead, there was an armada of spaceships, heading in their direction. All of them were different sizes, with different designs, but they all are colored ominously with red, and it wouldn't take a scientist to figure out the significance of that color.

Meta Knight is stunned. "...Fox, did you build any weapons into this?"

"...Why... what's happen..."

The ships closed in. They were close enough that one of the bigger ships could just ram into the makeshift Arwing and kill all of its occupants in an instant.

However, that was not the case.

In fact, the Giygas affiliated airships just went past them, nor did they bother to make contact.

Still, it scared the shit out of the trio. "...What was that about?" the Pokémon said.

"W-Well, they're likely going to Pop Star to deal with the revolution we left behind." Meta Knight answered.

"...Oh right, I forgot about that. Geez, that was months ago... in real time. Damn it Hyper, you really got to get your shit together."

Oh. Well, I'm sorry your highness. I'm trying to juggle between three stories at once, and, in fact, one more story will be coming out of hiatus soon. It's hard. It's hard and you don't understand.

"Well maybe you shouldn't start so many stories."

….Yeah, you're right. I am a scumbag.

Meta Knight looked ahead to see if any more ships were heading for them. He did not spot another ship, but he saw something curious: a rectangular light. "What do you guys suppose that light might be?"

"Maybe some sort of... space station..." Fox mumbled.

"Either that or a giant ass ship." suggested Pikachu.

"Hmm. It'll be worth checking out then. Hopefully, it's a space station; we need to refuel, after all." with that, Meta Knight started the ship toward the oddly shaped light.

* * *

"Sir, I hate to intrude, but..." a human man stammered.

His boss spun with a dramatic flair of authority in his chair to face the man. "I don't mind you intruding. Tell me what's the problem."

"I... I didn't say it was a problem..."

"I just know that it is. It's about the new law, right?"

"A-actually, yes. People have been reacting rather unfavorably to the Bianca Transcription Law. There have been riots on at least three planets, and there's been more illegal racing in response to this."

"Alright, um, that sounds a bit bad... we're going to need a good scare to reign the people in..."

* * *

As the Arwing neared the light, it became apparent that it was a space station. The station was on top of an asteroid that was split in half, the other half floating nearby, covered in lights to act as a beacon. The station itself was a cluster of buildings, with a runway for ships to land on.

Next to the base, a rip was going through the fabric of space. The rip then expanded into a hole. Then, a red spaceship proceeded to fly out of the portal before the hole closed off, repairing the space.

Meta Knight dipped the Arwing down to stay out of sight. "Where did that ship come from?"

"Oh, I've read about this in a newspaper." Pikachu replied, searching his memory. 'Okay, so like, those idiots in Subspace open up portals somewhere to allow ships in, then, they open a portal somewhere else so the ships could go there. It's a quick way for them to get around."

"They can do that?"

"Yeah."

"That... that's a total abuse of the powers of Subspace."

"I know. What a bunch of assholes."

""Zzzz... hey!" Fox unexpectedly snapped awake. "What if we like... go into one of the portals when one opens up?"

"Then go directly to Subspace?" the knight asked. 'Would we be confronting Giygas, then?'

"Oh hell no, we're not doing that." the electric Pokémon grumbled. "Giygas kicked our butts last time, and he didn't even have a full empire back then."

"I was actually thinking that we go into Subspace, then enter the nearest portal as fast as possible." the tired pilot shrugged.

"Fox. That is completely reckless and it might get us killed." Pikachu paused. "Then again, it's better than wandering aimlessly through space. I'm pretty sure that no one wants to waste time just standing around."

"Hmm... what about plot holes? Whatever happened to those?" questioned Meta Knight.

"Unfortunately, Hyper is less of a shit writer now, so they're probably rare to come by."

...Unfortunately?

"Hey, I said that you're less of a shit writer. At least take that as a compliment."

"Back to the matter at hand..." Meta Knight coughed. "We could try what Fox suggested, but we seriously need fuel."

"We took some money with us... before we left..." yawned Fox.

His Pokémon companion in front of him took a bag that was stuffed into the cockpit with them and searched through it. He took out several bills, which had stars printed on them; one of the few good things about there being an interdimensional empire is that they accept all currencies. "Okay... park on that runway and I'll go buy us some gas."

"Wouldn't you get arrested trying to do that?" the current pilot pointed out.

" I could pass off as any other Pikachu."

"Oh... let's give this a try, then."

Meta Knight veered the Arwing toward the station's runway. He landed the aircraft carefully as it slowed to a stop. He then opened up the cockpit to let Pikachu out; Meta Knight and Fox chose to stay behind, as they might be recognized more easily.

The air on the asteroid was breathable - of course, it seemed that anyone in the Kirby universe could travel to space without needing oxygen. The electric Pokémon scurried over to the nearest building, which looked like a convenience store in design.

The interior looked like a store of some sort as well, with shelves in perfect rows that were filled with various boxed and canned foods, books, maps, weapons, and ammo. At the very front was a Starman behind a counter, who immediately noticed Pikachu's presence. "_...? Pikachu... detected?_"

The other shoppers (made up of Pig Masks, a few Shy Guys, and Kremlings) turned to look at the Pokemon, stunned. "Wah! It's a ghost!" exclaimed one of the Pig Masks.

"I-I thought Roy had him executed?" a Shy Guy said in a hushed tone.

"_This is impossible! ...Regardless of whether he's a ghost or not, exterminate him immediately._"

Before anyone made any moves, Pikachu put his arms up in self defense while chuckling nervously. "Hey now, you don't think I'm_ that_ Pikachu, do you? Come on, that "loser" is totally dead. I'm just another Pikachu, don't group me up with him."

The Giygas-affiliated people faltered. Then, the Starman admitted, _"True. There are a lot of Pikachus. That one Pikachu just happens to have the same name as its species. I apologize for the confusion._"

One Kremling grumbled, disappointed that he couldn't beat the crap out of the newcomer. "Man, what kind of idiot names their Pikachu "Pikachu"?"

Pikachu was going to say something, but admitted that the Kremling had a point; what the hell, Ash. Glad that he got suspicion off of himself, Pikachu headed up to the counter. Looking at the various signs lined on the walls, Pikachu figured out that he was in a supply store for military and civilians (with a drastic discount for military people).

"_Yes? What is it?_" the Starman questioned as Pikachu went up to him.

"Do you have any fuel?"

The Starman rolled his eyes under his visor. "_Obviously. Are you looking for something specific? Rocket fuel? Energy drive?_"

"Er... gasoline."

"_...What kind of ship runs on gasoline...?_"

Pikachu pointed at Fox's shitty-looking-on-the-outside Arwing in front of the store.

"_...Ah. We do not have a conventional service station, but gasoline cans are offered in the third aisle. Do you have an ID for a military discount?_"

"No, I wish." Pikachu grumbled as he went to look for the gas cans, hoping that they weren't too expensive (chances are, they probably were).

A few minutes later, Pikachu went back to the Arwing, carrying a few gas cans as well as a newspaper, with only pocket change left. He handed the newspaper to Meta Knight, "Here, you'll probably be interested in this."

Meta Knight unfolded the newspaper, which read in bold letters, "**STARMAN CHRONICLES.**" An obvious propaganda newspaper. He started to skim through the pages: a riot being put down, a stalemate somewhere continuing for its 28th week, excitement for the construction of new entertainment venues, people getting executed for terrorist acts against the state, McDonalds offering breakfast all day, houses being set on fire... the newspaper was mostly filled with things that definitely painted Giygas' forces as an empire. Oddly, there was no mention of what was going on in the Kirby universe; the newspaper likely didn't want to feature anything that made the empire look a bit weak. Meta Knight really wanted to learn more though, and get a full scope of what's happening everywhere.

While Meta Knight wasn't too interested in the bleak shows of force and the occasional bread-and-circuses bright spots, he saw a headline that immediately grabbed his attention:

"**FORMER SMASHER BECOMES MAYOR OF TOWN**

**One of the Smashers (aka, one of those old heroic guys who are old hat), Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom in the Mario universe, had become mayor of Smashville, an idyllic village in the Animal Crossing universe. The former mayor, Tortimer, had handed down his position to her, having chosen her for her hard working and good-natured values. The former princess is happy to be back in a ruling position, where she could further help her friends. Her fellow Smasher friend, Ness of the Earthbound universe, has been hired as her secretary.**

**Tom Nook, one of the high ranking members in the empire as well as the universe's real estate dealer, had this to comment, "I personally think that Peach well-deserves the job. She's a hard worker, and, say what you will about me, but I recognize and respect such work ethic and diligence. I was shocked that she managed to not only upgrade her house to the greatest capacity, but buy out of her contract as well. She definitely has my respect, as well as the respect of her people."**

**Peach has a great number of achievements: the Smashville museum mainly contains things that she's donated herself, she has an outstanding rank in the Happy Home Academy..."**

Meta Knight was interrupted from his reading when he heard banging on the glass. He opened the cockpit to let the Pokémon back in. "Alright, let's hurry out of here."

The knight nodded and put the paper down and started up the Arwing (now with full gas). He slowly lifted it into the air and let it hover for a bit, waiting for an opportunity. Then, with a flash, another hole was opened up through space, letting out another airship heading toward Pop Star. Meta Knight gunned the ship into the hole before it closed back up.

Little did they know, a still suspicious Starman was watching the Arwing during its ascent. "..."

"...Sir, will you ring me up? I 'aven't got all day!" a Kremling growled at the stoic space creature.

* * *

The area of Subspace that the Arwing was taken to was very colorful. Lights of various hues shined through the purple darkness, mostly radiating from signs that dictated locations. Portals, made by unknown individuals, opened up, revealing colorful worlds on the other side before ships trailed into them.

Then, suddenly, all the lights turned red and a screeching noise was starting to blare out.

"_Unidentified ship has entered air space! Unidentified ship has entered air space! Unidentified shi-_"

The Arwing rocked as it was hit by something underneath, forcing Meta Knight to pilot the Arwing around; from the ground, shots were being fired from turrets, which were set up for these kinds of situations.

The rocking was enough to wake up Fox. "...Huh... Oh, we're being shot at..."

Meta Knight was fumbling with the controls; he rarely had to deal with these situations. In fact, he bitterly remembered the Halberd getting filled with lead during the Subspace Emissary incident - sure, it advanced their plan to have Kirby attack the cannon shooting at them, but it was such a waste. Not knowing what to do, he yelled, "Fox, do something!"

Fox slowly blinked, still feeling a bit groggy. Then, a giddy smile spread across his face. "Leave it to me!" He crawled over his two fellow riders and took over the controls.

He made a tight turn, heading to one of the floating ships and then flew over it. The turrets on the ground shot the unfortunate scapegoat a bit before realizing who they were hitting. While safe from their fire, Fox noticed that some of the ships were starting to take notice of them. Before any dynamic air fights could occur, Fox, full of bravery, took the Arwing out of its hiding place and made a nosedive for one of the portals, putting them back in turret range.

"F-Fox! Do you know where that leads?" Pikachu asked in a panicked manner.

"No clue! Didn't read the sign! It's probably better than here, though!" he said. Before the turrets did any serious damage to them, Fox went through and disappeared.

* * *

The castle was considerably quieter than it was earlier, Mewtwo noted. On a security camera, he saw Dr. Mario, Ashley, Lucas, and Tom Nook having a heated discussion about buying poison. Truly, King Boo would also be enjoying the talk if he weren't in so much shit.

Speaking of the ghoul...

Mewtwo saw that King Boo was still secluded in his cell. The ghost could easily leave by phasing through the walls, but it seemed that he was too traumatized and/or upset to try and do so. The observer couldn't quite put down what the phantom was thinking.

Of course, it wasn't too important. At least to Mewtwo. Not counting King Boo's behavior, everything was fine. Things were going smoothly, he might say.

So, of course, he waited for something to ruin his day.

Lo and behold, an alert flashed on a computer screen. It showed a picture of what resembled an Arwing, taken from a station in the Kirby universe.

Mewtwo had a feeling that he knew who was piloting it.

"_A Pikachu, civilian, bought gas at the Marx Station. Investigation of security camera footage shows that his ship, which resembles an Arwing, came from the direction of Pop Star. Identity is most likely that of the Smasher Pikachu. Try to stop at Subspace checkpoint."_

Then, another alert appeared. With a blurrier picture of the same ship.

"_Unidentified ship appeared. Failed to shot down - first out of seven ships this month to not be eliminated. Pilot(s) unknown. Ships have been sent to track it down.._"

Mewtwo moved his eyes from the screen to a small picture frame he had on his desk; the photo frame showed a picture of him and the other Melee Smashers. The psychic Pokémon shook his head and sighed. "Roy... you're not making it easy to keep you alive, you idiot..."

* * *

The Arwing emerged over a city in the middle of the night... or what constituted as night, anyway. In the sky was a blue moon, which shone a bluish hue down onto the planet. A short distance away (from their point of view) from the moon was another planetoid, which was farther from the planet they emerged on than the moon was.

"How... odd..." said Meta Knight, commenting on the environment. "I certainly haven't been here before."

"Hey, we can all talk about how weird this place is later." Pikachu said. "Right now, we should probably hide before they follow us."

"Ah yes, excellent point. Fox, try to find somewhere discreet to land in, perhaps an alleyway."

"Can do!" the pilot answered, making a little salute.

He brought the Arwing down toward the unknown planet. He was very careful in the process - many of the buildings were tall, and they were all cluttered together, a city planner's nightmare. Thankfully, it seemed that nobody was outside... which was actually unsettling. There were huge roads and highways, but there were no cars. There were sidewalks, but nobody was walking around. Just a faint red mist was present. Another mystery to investigate. Unseen, Fox piloted the Arwing into the empty streets and landed carefully. Swiftly, the trio exited the vehicle and pushed it into a nearby alleyway, its wings scraping gently against the surrounding building walls.

Fox groaned with relief after the tough task was done. "It'll be hard to fly this out, but I think we lost them." the animal said, looking upward cautiously. There seemed to be small lights moving across the sky.

"Okay, we need to hide the Arwing properly then find somewhere to hide out ourselves." the knight said.

"We'll surround it with trash. It'll blend in." Pikachu suggested.

Fox looked a bit hurt.

"H-hey, I'm not saying that your Arwing is trash! It just_ looks_ like trash!"

That made him a bit happier.

They worked together, moving whatever clutter they could find in the alley and dumped it around the Arwing. Pikachu even stole a trash can from the curb and placed it in front of the mess. Very convincing. Well, if you don't look hard enough it is. "...It does look like a pile of trash, huh..." Fox muttered as he looked it over.

The Pokémon encouragingly patted his leg. "Hey, it still flies well, and it saved our asses."

Fox sniffed. "Thanks."

Meanwhile, Meta Knight was standing in the street, looking around with curious eyes. They were surrounded by large apartment buildings, which stretched into the sky. While there were street lamps around (lighting up the roads with bluish hues thanks to the moon), there were still no cars to be found. There didn't even seem to be any parked cars either. "This is very bizarre..."

Pikachu and Fox joined them, showing equal bafflement at their surroundings. The Pokémon looked at one of the buildings and took a particular interest in it, as it was displaying its name. "Mandrill 4 Colonial Apartments? Is that the name of the city?"

"Maybe it's like a franchise name, like the Tipton." his taller friend suggested.

"The Tipton isn't real, Fox."

"That's still a possibility, though." the observant knight said. "Although, Mandrill 4 could be the name of the region, but I'm not entirely certa..." he trailed off. They could hear something in the distance.

Sirens.

"Is it an ambulance?" Fox asked.

"Maybe. Or the cops, coming to arrest us." Pikachu scoffed, while hoping that it wasn't true.

"Hmm... wait.. what's that?" the knight pointed into the mist. Down the road, shapes were starting to form... and were heading toward them at high speeds. As the shapes came closer, it became clear that they were vehicles, which floated slightly above the road. In the back were more vehicles, with flashing lights on top and the sirens playing loudly from them.

Meta Knight and Pikachu were too shocked to even move. Fox however was too busy figuring things out. "...Oh! I got it! We're in the F-Zero univer-"

Then they blacked out.

* * *

**_To be continued_**

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Ahh... just like Attack of Giygas, the second arc takes place in the F-Zero universe._

_The planet of Mandrill 4 is a minor location in the F-Zero games, only being mentioned as the planet where Angelopolis, Michael Chain's home city, is located. As far as I know from Google searches, there's no other canon information on the planet, so I thought, "hey, let's make shit up and place the next arc here."_

_Also, it was my birthday this week. July 9th is such a happy day. I got Fire Emblem Awakening and I hope to get Shin Megami Tensei IV next week as well. Thank Nintendo for that promotion. I am super fucking stoked for the game. Sure, I'd end up emptying my wallet, but damn is it worth it._


End file.
